Black & White
by fairytailcrossover
Summary: After returning from Tenrou Island, Lucy finds a new key, and she's introduced to a whole new set of spirits.
1. Connected

Okay so new story! Yay! This is after Tenrou, but before the Grand Magic Games. For the anime watchers, the Key of the Starry Sky Arc didn't happen. I will be going through the Grand Magic Games, and while it will be similar, it will not be the same. Also, the Eclispse gate and the Dragon festival aren't going to happen, and neither is Tartaros. Basically, the only thing that will kind of be the same is Grand Magic Games, after which I will go off on a tangent. Bleach is going to follow a completely crazy schedule, its after Aizen left with Gin and Kaname, but before the Arrancar arc and all of that.

Anyways, you'll get to see me playing with Lucy, again, because I love playing with Lucy, especially since I have so many guys to choose from and it's just so much fun, because she's honestly so incredible in my book. Anyways, you'll get to see me play with her and the billions of guys in this story. Tell me what you think :)

 **Chapter 1: Connected**

Walking through the forest towards the monsters they were hired to exterminate, Lucy fingered the new key she had found just at the entrance of it. It wasn't like anything she had seen before, as it wasn't silver or gold, but pitch black, with lavender wrapping around its handle. The actual key part looked more like a sword than a key, and it looked as if it were a million mini fragments pieced together. Something felt weird about it though, but she wouldn't be able to describe it if you had asked her.

"So Luce, what spirit does that call out?" Nastu asked, grin firmly in place as he placed his hands behind his head, which Happy was happily flying above.

"Yes, Lucy, I didn't know there were black keys. I only knew of the silver and gold keys," Erza said, looking at her blonde friend.

"I'm not sure, I didn't know about it either. I plan on asking Crux when I get home or maybe on the train," she explained.

Erza was about to say something else when she stiffened, along with the others around her.

"Can you guys feel that?" Gray asked as he looked around. There was an intense magical energy surrounding them.

A dozen monsters surrounded them, and as they looked around, they realized someone either hadn't told them the entirety of their mission, or hadn't know exactly how severe the situation was. These were all easily A-Class monsters, and Erza could sense at least 1 S-Class.

"Natsu, Gray, you take half of them and lead them away. Then fight them. We'll take the rest here."

"Right, let's go," Gray said, running off in another direction, followed closely by Natsu.

Erza and Lucy faced the monsters in front of them, while Lucy called out Loke and Virgo to help her fight.

...

Another Captain's meeting Byakuya Kuchiki was about to be forced to attend. He had just arrived, one of the first, when he felt something. It was a surge, an increase in his heartbeat for the briefest moment. It was gone just as quickly as it came, but he couldn't stop thinking about it throughout the meeting.

The meeting was drawing to a close when he felt something again, but this time it was different. Panic rushed through him, and his heart began to beat faster. His hand immediately moved there, and he started to see something inside his mind - some sort of creature - he was flashing back and forth between the reality and his vision, and he doubled over in pain as the monster fired an attack towards him.

The other captains were watching him curiously, some more indifferent while others were more concerned. They weren't sure what was happening to the usually composed Captain, and he wasn't acting like himself. As it continued, they each began to grow more concerned.

He was feeling a pull, to go wherever the person he was feeling was. He knew what he was experiencing was someone else's life. He was connected to him or her somehow, and he could feel himself being pulled in that person's direction. At first he tried to resist the pull, but then, he felt it. He saw it in his mind, a claw slashing through abdominal muscles, accompanied by the shrill blood curdling scream of a girl. He felt the pain, the agony of the girl, but within himself, over all his other feelings, he felt the overwhelming desire to go to her, to protect her, to save her.

He closed his eyes and followed the golden ribbon that had been pulling him. When he opened his eyes again, he was in the forest, standing in front of the blonde girl before the fearsome monster, holding his blade up to protect her from the final blow.

...

Lucy was fighting them to the best of her abilities. Loke, Virgo, and she had defeated 2 of them and were facing their third, while Erza was flying in her black wing armor to take on the S-Class monster.

The one they were fighting now was the biggest of her opponents, and it was vicious. She was holding her own, but her magic energy was decreasing and her body was going weak from the blows she had been dealt by the previous monsters combined with this one's. Loke and Virgo had returned to the Spirit World to heal, under Lucy's orders, and now she was about to call out Scorpio to help her, but the monster slashed out at her, cutting her stomach.

She screamed. She couldn't help it and wished she hadn't, but she did. She could feel Erza's eyes shift in her direction, but she smiled at the redhead, before crumpling to the ground. She was waiting for the final blow, and she could faintly hear Erza flying towards the monster, having finished her battle, but Erza wouldn't make it in time, she knew.

She thought about life, how great it had been, and prepared for her life to end.

She heard Erza's cry, "LUCY!" and waited for the pain, but it never came. Sight slightly blurred by the tears she hadn't known she'd shed, she looked up to see a man in front of her, with long black hair and weird hair pieces, a sword in his hands blocking the attack of the monster.

Cries of "LUCE!" and "LUCY!" could be heard from the returning members of Team Natsu, as they arrived from their finished battles.

"I assume Lucy is your name?" the man said, looking over his shoulder at her. "I don't know why, but I could feel you, your pain, your experience. I also don't know why I feel the need to protect you, but I do." As he finished his words, as if to prove its meaning, he sliced at the monster, killing it. He sheathed his sword and turned around to face her. Now she could see his narrowed gray eyes as they regarded her.

She swallowed, and then whimpered, the pain coming back to her as she felt the wound in her abdomen bleeding. When Lucy could find the strength to speak, she said, "Yes, I'm Lucy, and thank you for coming to my aid, even though you weren't contracted. May I ask what your name is?"

"Contracted?" he asked.

She looked at him in surprise, "Yes, as a Celestial Spirit Mage, I am bound by Celestial Law to form a contract with each spirit I call, should the spirit be willing."

"What are you talking about?" he asked again, his brow furrowing in confusion.

"Are you not a Celestial Spirit?" she asked, shocked. Natsu had moved to pick her up, tenderly holding her in his arms bridal style. She wrapped her arm around his neck, resting her head on his shoulder, keeping her other arm wrapped around her wounded stomach.

Byakuya's jaw and fists clenched when the pinkette approached the girl. He didn't understand the protectiveness he felt for her. The action went unnoticed by most, but Erza caught it, and she furrowed her brows in confusion. All of Lucy's spirits were protective, but this was different. She would talk to Lucy about it later though.

"I'm afraid I don't know what a Celestial Spirit is," he answered calmly. Lucy was thoroughly confused now, she knew he had come from the key she had found, but she still didn't know his name, and he said he didn't know about Celestial Spirits, which meant it probably wasn't a Celestial Spirit key.

"That's... Confusing. I'm afraid at this point, I can't give you any answers then, since I don't know them myself. If you'd like, I could do some research, and call you back here later when I do have answers. Or maybe somebody from where you're from will have some answers for you," she said, "Oh... And you never gave me your name." She smiled at him, "I'm Lucy Heartfilia, from Fairy Tail. I'm not sure what's going on, but I assure you I will try to get to the bottom of it as fast as possible. Thank you very much for saving me, and I hope we can become friends."

Byakuya had no idea what to think, but just nodded at her before giving her his name. He wasn't sure what to do now, as he still wasn't sure how he got here, and he definitely didn't know how to return. But then she took out a key and stared at it and then him, "Do you not know how to go back?"

He shook his head, and she giggled, "Ok then, I'll send you back through a forced gate closure. Close: Gate of Bayakuya Kuchiki." There was a bright light and when it faded, he was standing back in the meeting room, where the other captains were staring opened mouthed at him.

He scoffed, "What?"

"You've been gone for ten minutes, Bayakuya. Where did you go? How did you go?" Toshiro asked, looking him up and down through his narrowed eyes.

"There was a girl. I was connected to her, and she needed my help," was all he said before he left the room to find some privacy to think about what, exactly, had just happened.

…

Lucy couldn't stop thinking about him. He seemed to have no idea as to who or what she was. She thought about it for the entire walk back to the town, in which Natsu carried her tenderly in his arms, and on the entire train ride home. She would have called out Crux to find answers, but she didn't even have the magical energy for that much after the fight. Because Byakuya had come through of his own will, it hadn't drained her power, but she had used what she had left sending him back home, which she could tell wasn't the Spirit World. Even that night, as she drifted off to sleep in the infirmary, she dreamed of him, and of the answers of who he was.

The next morning she called out Crux, and he immediately searched his archives for the answers she was searching for, and, while she got them, she felt unsure as she contemplated the implications of what she had learned.

…

Even after he returned, he felt her. It was infuriating and relaxing at the same time. On the one hand, he hated feeling this connection to her, hated being connected to anyone in any way. However, on the other hand, he knew she was okay, and he knew that she survived and he would see her again, and it left him extremely pleased. The night came and went, and the connection did not fade.

"Byakuya, what happened?" asked Yamamoto, who had come to his estate to ask what had happened to him the day previous.

"When I know, I will tell you and the other captains. I may or may not be disappearing like that again," he said, contemplating. Then he felt confusion and unsurety coming from the girl, until he felt a familiar pull. This time however, he could not resist, and he disappeared in a flash of light, leaving a confused Yamamoto.

When he reappeared, he was in a small studio apartment, the blonde girl standing in front of him. He took the opportunity to examine her, as he had been too blinded by confusion the day previous to really look at her. She was wearing a blue, gold, and white crop top and short skirt, showing off her features, he couldn't help but notice. She had on a belt, upon which was a whip, and several keys, while the key that was somehow connected to him was in her hand. Her blonde hair was tied in two pigtails at the base of her head, and she had big brown eyes that looked so honest and open.

"Hello, Byakuya, I was able to find out a bit more about your key, but first, I feel like I should explain a bit about me. I am a Celestial Spirit Mage, which means that, using the gold and silver keys at my belt, I can summon celestial spirits from the Celestial Spirit World. Each key and spirit represents a particular constellation. The gold keys represent the twelve Zodiacs, and the silver keys represent the other constellations. When the key holder summons a spirit for the first time, she or he sets up a contract with that spirit, outlining the rules of their alliance.

"I found your key yesterday in the forest, and it was different from any key I had seen before, as its black. I was planning on researching it before I called upon it, but you felt me and came through on your own to protect me, but traveling through the gate on your own is extremely difficult for celestial spirits, especially when not contracted. It really confused me afterwards when I thought about it, along with the fact that you didn't seem to know about Celestial Mages or Spirits at all.

"After researching, I found out that this key isn't a celestial spirit key. It's similar to one, but not the same. I have extremely close friendships and relationships to my spirits, but the relationship put in place when someone claims a black key is stronger than even that. Not anyone can wield these keys either. Not only do they have to have high magical power, but they have to have good intentions. From what I learned, there are several black keys. Not much is known about them, but there is some known.

"1. A connection is made as soon as a worthy mage comes into possession of a key. It allows the spirit to feel the emotional and physical state of the mage. 2. Should the spirit feel it is necessary, he/she will be able to pass through the gate using his/her own power in order to protect the mage. 3. The connection is irrevocable, broken only by death of either the spirit or mage, either of which would cause the other pain. 4. The spirits come from another world, in which any who reach a particular power level will have a key created and left some place in Earthland for a worthy mage to wield.

"This means there are more keys out there, which might belong to your friends. I came upon your key by accident, and I feel terrible that I forced you into this connection without you having any choice. Personally, I would like to search for the other keys, but if you wish that I don't, I won't. I forced you into this, so I will allow you to decide."

She was biting her lip, rubbing her legs together, and looking at the ground. He could feel the guilt she felt, and he didn't like it. He also knew that he would do anything to protect her, but that he might not be able to be in a position to protect her. He assumed that any with the position of captain would have a key, maybe even a few of the lieutenants, and that left him slightly concerned. It meant that Arrancar might have keys, and Aizen and Gin probably had keys as well. However, if they all felt this need to protect, she would be safe. He also knew that it might help bring peace between them, if they had her in common.

Most of all, though, if she had more of their keys, even if he couldn't be here to protect her, someone else might. He could see she was pure, and yesterday she had said she wanted to be his friend, something he hadn't had in a very long time.

"Please, search for the other keys. It would not be good if they were to fall into the wrong hands. Thank you for asking for permission, though. However, be careful. Not all Shinigami, which is what we are, are good. I can tell you there are at least 12 other keys, possibly more, as there are 13 Captains, and I am one of them. However, some of them are no longer part of our ranks and will not be aware of the situation. Be careful with them. Explain what you know to them. It is also possible that some of the lieutenants might have keys as well, and that is another 13 Shinigami. There are also the Arrancar, who have strength equal to that of a Captain, but they are not Shinigami, but something else. You must be careful with them as well. I do not know how much of it I should explain to you at this time. I wish you the best of luck, and I hope that no key you come across tries to harm you. If they do, though, I will be here to help you," he said, looking her in the eyes. Then he disappeared as he returned to the Seireitei. He had managed to figure out how to return the previous day when she sent him back.

Lucy thought through the events as she walked to the guild. Byakuya had left her quickly and with so many questions. She now knew that there were 13 divisions in the world he came from, and each division had a Captain, who would definitely had a key, and a lieutenant, who might have a key. She also surmised that previous captains that were no longer part of their divisions would most likely have keys. Then there were the things he called Arrancar. He had said they were different, but he hadn't specified how. Not to mention he said they were dangerous and might try to harm her. However, if the connection that's supposedly put in place with these keys is present, they wouldn't hurt her, in theory that is. From now on, she would try to have someone else with her when she first summoned new spirits.

She also knew she shouldn't let word of these keys out. Supposedly, only those with good intentions could call on these spirits, however, sometimes good intentions doesn't always mean good actions. Obviously her guild would know, but she wouldn't go bragging about them on the street. When she had made this decision, she was already at the guild.

She smiled, surely Fairy Tail would help her through whatever challenges these keys might bring. As she was about to walk in, she heard someone calling her.

"Hey Blondie!" Laxus said, as he walked up to her, smirk firmly in place. Gildarts had just reinstated him in the guild and he had already completed an S-Class mission, even though he had only left the day before.

"I got something for you. It was part of my reward. Figured I should take the job so none of the other Celestial Mages could get it," Laxus said.

She furrowed her brows, "You took the request because there was a key as part of the reward?" she asked, slightly touched by the show.

"Yea. For one thing, I feel like I owe ya for not helping during the whole Phantom thing and then for Fantasia. Besides, training for the GMG starts tomorrow and I figured a new key would help. I don't know what spirit it is, and it's a funky looking key, but here ya go," he said, holding up a key. It was simple, black with green and gold at its head. When she grabbed it, her face lit up into a smile. Yes, this was definitely one of the Shinigami keys.

"Yay! Why don't you come with me to summon him or her? It's only fair since you got the key for me," she smile at him. He was surprised, but smiled back, as much as Laxus could smile, and followed her to the back of the guild.

Little did they know a matchmaker was watching their exchange.

…

Byakuya had just finished explaining the revelations to his fellow captains and their lieutenants. Then, in a rare show of emotion, he smiled, "And, lastly, I granted her permission to search for the other keys. After all, it would be bad if they ended up in others' hands, and besides, it would be the best way to protect her."

"Since when do you care about others' protection? Why would you tell her something like that? It should be our choice if we want our keys found," Toshiro said angrily. He didn't feel like being the pet of some girl. A few sounds of agreement echoed throughout the room, a grunt from Kenpachi, and an exclamation from Mayuri being the loudest.

"Since I was connected to Miss Heartfilia, and I told her that, because if your key were to wind up in another Celestial Mage's hands, you might very well end up with a Master who doesn't give you an opinion. From what I understand of the situation, many Celestial Mages abuse their spirits, who are bound to obey them, which means they can't fight back. Supposedly, only a select few mages can open the gates to the keys connected with us, however, I would rather not take that wager. We don't want to end up fighting each other in another world because of orders, although I doubt Miss Heartfilia would require us to do so," he said, leveling a cool glare on the smaller captain. Toshiro scoffed, but said nothing more, acknowledging the truth in the words. It would be best not to take that chance, if possible.

"Do you think there's a good chance she'll find more keys, Byakuya?" Shunsui asked.

The captain narrowed his eyes, "And why are you asking, Shunsui?"

"Because, I would like to see the kind of woman that would make you put anything on the line to protect her. You must have known some here wouldn't like your decision. Tell me, what is she like? What does she look like, so we'll know it's her if we are called, by anyone for that matter," he answered, lifting his hat a bit.

"She is blonde, and has a very… well-endowed form, much like Rangiku. She is truthful, honest, and sincere, at least from my encounters with her. She has more strength than what she appears to possess, and she is loyal, almost to a fault."

"You got all of that from two meetings? I doubt any of it was more than a façade, and if she should call on me, I'm sure I would be able to reveal her true colors," Mayuri said, grinning somewhat sadistically.

"Although I may not agree with Mayuri as to method, I do say that sometimes, first impressions are simply a well-placed lie. Take it from Sosuke and Kaname, although I always had some doubts about Gin. However, if what he said about the girl is true, and it could be revealed to him upon two meetings, then she must be extremely honorable. I can't tell if I am excited of the truth of his words or terrified of the misconception in them," Sajin said, eyeing Byakuya carefully.

"I have taken that into consideration, however, I feel that if you were to ever meet her, you would understand why I feel it is her true face," Byakuya said in complete determination.

Yamamoto decided it was his turn to speak, "That is enough. Regardless of that, it is obvious that more of us might be called into this other world, and all we can hope for is that this girl, the one Byakuya deems honorable, is the one to call us. We can only hope for the best in this situation."

The captains and lieutenants all nodded, before leaving to go to their respective quarters. Some wondered how the girl could possibly bring peace to their world. Some wondered about the beasts they would fight to protect the girl. Still others questioned their stance on what was happening, unsure whether to be hopeful or scared.

…

Sosuke Aizen stopped in the middle of his sentence. All eyes were on him in the room filled with Espada. He felt different. He felt his heart speed up slightly, then return to normal. He saw a flash of blonde hair and big brown eyes. And most surprisingly of all, he felt… happy.


	2. Complications

**Chapter 2: Complications**

Aizen wasn't sure what was happening to him. He felt happy, ecstatic really, almost giddy, but he had no reason to be. Yes, his Arrancar were doing well, but he was merely satisfied; this feeling was something different, almost foreign. Besides, it wasn't him. It was like he was feeling someone else inside of him.

He looked up towards his subordinates, who were staring at him in curiosity, even Ulquiorra seemed intrigued. He had stopped what he was saying mid-sentence, something he never does. He quickly dismissed them so he could think over his strange feelings, however, before he could process it, he was being dragged by a golden ribbon to another place.

When the light faded, he was standing before two people, in a place he didn't recognize. Both were blonde, but their resemblance stopped there. One was a hulking man, with blue-grey eyes, a scar covering one of them. The other was a petite, although voluptuous, woman, with big brown eyes and not a mark on her creamy skin.

"Hello, I'm Lucy Heartfilia," she said to him, "You're a Shinigami, correct?"

He nodded slowly, still unsure as to what was happening. He casually moved his hand to his sword, not wanting to alert them to his movements. They had power; it wasn't spiritual power, but it was definitely something similar, and he didn't want to risk fighting them if he could avoid it.

"Miss Heartfilia, would you mind explaining to me how I came to be here?" he asked hesitantly.

Lucy felt her eyes widen slightly. Byakuya had assured her he would tell the other Shinigami about the situation. Although he had mentioned some of them not being part of the 13 Guard Squads anymore. He didn't elaborate, and she didn't fully understand the situation, but she would try her best.

"I see," she said, and then she proceeded to tell him about the situation. His face stayed neutral. She noticed he was quite handsome, like Byakuya, and both held a similar regal air about them. However, this man seemed far more hesitant. The situations were different, and she wasn't in any danger, so she supposed that had something to do with it.

The man nodded at her, "I understand, although this was… unexpected, to say the least. You say only certain mages can open the gates of these keys, but who chose who was worthy or not?"

Lucy thought about this for a second, bringing a finger up to tap at her chin before responding, "I'm not entirely sure. I suppose some might say fate, although I don't know how much you buy into that. I'm not entirely sure how much I buy into that. It could be some form of living magic, and the key chooses its mage, or it might be the Celestial Spirit King, but I doubt that. He doesn't seem to have any connection to these keys, as they aren't celestial magic, per say. I'm afraid I can't offer you much information regarding the keys, as I don't know much myself."

"Who created the keys?" he asked. He didn't know what was happening with the keys, and he wasn't exactly keen on being called to another world at the whim of this girl. Although, as more time passed, the more drawn to her he felt. He could feel her, and he wanted to protect her.

Lucy's brow furrowed, "Well, the origins of all the Celestial Keys are unknown. The spirits are the embodiments of the stars, some say that they are the spirits of wizards of the past who died honorable deaths and were gifted life on Earthland after death, while others say the Mage of the Stars, the first Celestial Wizard, created the keys. The Celestial Spirits know, but it's against Celestial Law for them to reveal their origins to anyone. As for the Shinigami keys, I'm not sure. From what I understand, when someone from your world reaches a certain level of what you call spiritual energy, a key forms in this world linking you here. It apparently lies dormant and you feel no connection to the key until a mage that is considered worthy makes contact with the key. Again, though, it could be a form of living magic, and the key creates itself for whatever reason. However, I'm afraid I have no idea as to how they're created or who created them."

"And magic, what exactly is it?" he asked. That was what he was most curious about. He now identified the pressure of energy coming off the two in front of him as this 'magic' but he wasn't entirely sure what it was.

"Magic is, well, magic. There isn't really a description for it, I suppose," she began, placing her head in her hand, tapping her chin. "Earthland has an abundance of magic, it fills the air. Every mage has something like a container in their body that can absorb the magic from the air around us and convert it into a physical form. Not everybody in Earthland has these containers, and not all mages are the same. The sizes of the containers differs, although you can train yourself to expand your container and harness more energy. The biggest difference though, is how a person uses their magical energy. I use it to summon beings from other universes. Laxus, that's the man behind me, uses it to form, create, and use lightning, as he's the Lightning Dragon Slayer. No two mages are the same, because the physical forms of their magic are different."

"That's somewhat like our spiritual energy, although I believe our containers are far more physical. Our zanpakutos, our swords, each have different abilities, and represent our spiritual energy," he said, contemplating what he had learned. He had wondered if he could possibly learn this magic and use it in some way in his future plans, but it appeared only the chosen could harness magic, and, being from a different world, he doubted he would be capable of it. However, he could understand the basic concepts behind magic, and then there was Laxus, the man. He could create and control lightning, but he appeared to be friends with Lucy. He hadn't said anything during the exchange, merely watching, something else that was bothering Aizen.

He didn't like the fact that this man, Laxus, seemed so comfortable with Lucy. He didn't know whether or not the man could be trusted, and therefore whether or not he should leave Lucy with him. She seemed comfortable enough around him, but he could sense immense power from the man, which he now recognized as being 'magic' instead of spiritual energy.

"Oh, I didn't know your swords had special abilities, although I should have guessed. That's kind of like my friend Erza's magic. I'm sure you'll meet her in the future," Lucy said. She was happy to get to learn a bit more about these spirits, as Byakuya hadn't explained much.

"So you do plan on calling upon me again," he said, not so much a question as a statement. He didn't know why, but he wasn't completely opposed to the idea of Lucy calling on him.

"Yes, I do, but I do need your name. Also, are there any days you know you absolutely can't come through on. You can have up to two days off, according to Celestial Law," she said, explaining the contract to him.

"My name is Sosuke Aizen, and you are welcome to call me whenever, however, I do have one last question before I leave you. What happens to a key when the corresponding spirit dies?" he asked, knowing full well that it might be a possibility, not for his key, but any other Shinigami keys she manages to find, as well as the Arrancar, as many of them, especially the Espada, would most likely have keys if it was a matter of power.

Lucy frowned, looking at him curiously, "Celestial spirits can't die. If they suffer injuries that would equate death for a normal person, they return to the spirit world to heal. Are you saying that the Shinigami are capable of dying?"

He nodded slowly. She essentially had an immortal army. "Yes, we can die. You weren't aware of this?"

She shook her head, her face dropping slightly, "I had assumed you would be like my other spirits. I never allow my spirits to fight to the point that it would normally be fatal, however, I will be especially careful with you guys now. I want to make sure that you live. Thank you for telling me this."

She had people that couldn't die, but didn't allow them to go to the point of death. She had a truly good heart, even more so than Kaname. If his life was to be held in the hands of any, he supposed he could be satisfied with having it in her hands.

"I'm afraid I should return home. I have business to take care of, but please, take care of yourself. I'm afraid I would be quite… upset should something happen to you," he said, smiling at her slightly.

"Thank you, but I'm sure I'll be fine. I'm only going to be training for the next three months, we have a national guild competition to prepare for. Have an excellent day, and I'll see you again," she said, giving him a large smile.

When he had once again disappeared, returning to his world, Lucy started thinking about what she had learned about her spirits. They each held a sword, which he had called a zanpakuto, and each zanpakuto had a special ability. She had forgotten to ask what his ability was, but she supposed she could ask later. The most important piece of information, though, was that they could die, and she didn't know what she would do if she lost any of her spirits to death.

She felt a hand on her head and looked up to see Laxus, "Hey, Blondie, don't worry about it. I can tell that spirit's strong, but I didn't know there was another type of key. Is that something new?"

"Yes, I found my first one yesterday. His name's Byakuya Kuchiki; he's powerful as well, but I can't help but worry about their safety," she said, looking down slightly.

"Well, they've got you looking after them, so I'm sure they'll be fine. Let's get back to the guild; I'm sure Gramps and the others will be excited to hear about your new spirits," he said, letting her head go after ruffling her hair slightly, smiling softly at her. She didn't know he could even have such a look, he looked so gentle, so different from what she was used to, but he was right. She wouldn't allow her spirits to die, even if it meant she would die instead. He was also right about the guild being excited.

She walked through the doors, and everyone turned to tell her good morning. Many jaws dropped in surprise as they spotted Laxus behind her, but they quickly shook it off, smiling and waving to the both of them. She made her way to the bar, sitting next to Cana and Makarov, who were sharing a morning drink, while Mira came up to give her a smoothie.

"Master, I want to tell you about some new keys I got, actually, I just contracted with one of them," she smiled at the little old man, his cheeks already pink from the alcohol he had been drinking. At this point, the guild quieted, everyone listening to Lucy, the Light of the Fairies. "Laxus brought the key back from his mission, and I'm really happy he did, as I'm trying to collect this new set. They're called Shinigami, and I still don't know much about them, except that they're dangerous, and it could be detrimental should their keys fall into the wrong hands.

"They're different from Celestial Spirits, but the same, in a way. They come from a different world than the Spirit World, and they're abilities are based in their swords, called zanpakutos. Supposedly, only those that the keys consider worthy are able to call on them, but I'd rather be careful, so I would like to ask that you don't make the origin of these keys public information. It's my goal to collect as many of these keys as possible."

"I see, my child. We will not reveal the knowledge of these keys to outsiders, and we will keep an eye out for additional keys, isn't that right brats?" he said, yelling the last part out to the guild, who had been listening in.

Choruses of agreement spilled out of mouths. Erza, Gray, Natsu, and Happy approached their teammate, "We'll help ya find 'em, Luce," Natsu said, grinning happily.

"Yes Lucy, but right now, we need to leave, you didn't forget about our training camp at the beach, did you?" Erza said, smiling at her team mate.

"Of course not Erza, let's go get Team Shadow Gear and then we can head out!" she said, smiling brightly, motioning over to Levy, Jet, and Droy, who were watching on, not wanting to interrupt. "Come on guys, we don't want to miss our train!" she laughed as Levy ran up to her, hugging her as she began talking about how as soon as they returned she would begin research on these keys and talking animatedly to Lucy about the upcoming chapters to her books.

Natsu and Gray were back to fighting, while Erza was calming them down in the special way that only Erza can. Jet and Droy were watching Levy with hearts in their eyes, and Lucy couldn't help but smile. For the millionth time, she couldn't help but thank the stars that she had met Natsu and had been introduced to her family here at Fairy Tail. She loved them, and she couldn't imagine her life without them at this point. They had been through so much together, and now it was time for them to prepare for their next adventure: The Grand Magic Games. They needed to win this year, to make up for the past seven years that they were away. She vowed to win, for Fairy Tail, for her family.

…

When he returned to Hueco Mundo, Sosuke sat and thought about everything that had happened. This was going to complicate things, definitely, but he couldn't find it in himself to be upset with the girl. Not only did he not feel angry, he was almost happy she had found him. Whatever was happening, her health and well-being was important to him. Even now, he could feel her. She was happy, and when he closed his eyes, he could see faces he couldn't identify, all smiling at her. He felt a surge of jealously. They could be with her at all times.

He still had to worry about his attack on the Soul Society, and the Hogyoku, but Lucy Heartfilia was a distraction, a welcome distraction. He wouldn't tell the others about her, until they were called. He didn't want them to think he had gone weak, and he didn't want anyone to know he had a weakness, because she would become his weakness. She was already becoming his weakness.

He knew other Shinigami connected to her wouldn't allow themselves to hurt her, even to get to him, and the Soul Society would be forced to fight amongst themselves again, should they decide to try to use her as leverage, so they wouldn't try it. Some of his less than compliant Arrancar, however, and possibly Gin, as he never knew what the man was thinking, were another story. He couldn't allow them to see any weakness in him, they would lose faith in him, and stop following his orders, or, if they could find a way to get to Lucy, would use her against him. No, he would keep her to himself for now, for her safety and his. He wouldn't die, it would hurt Lucy. He could see in her eyes when she discovered they could die, the sadness and worry. He wouldn't allow himself to die, as it would hurt her far too much for his liking.

Lucy was a complication, but he didn't care. She was his complication.

…

When they arrived at the beach, Lucy stretched out on the sand, now in her bathing suit. Their day of relaxation didn't seem to be all about relaxation, seeing as Gray and Natsu were already going head to head and Erza's definition of relaxing was seeing how long she could run on the beach before she was tired.

Lucy was relaxing with Levy, Juvia, and Wendy when Wendy asked Lucy about her new spirits. "Hey Lucy, do you think we could meet your new spirits while here? It would be really cool to meet them, and also, we should be able to recognize them and they should be able to recognize us in the future, don't you think?"

Lucy nodded, it would be a good idea. According to what Crux told her, the bond between them was extremely close, and they might become protective of her around anyone if they didn't know them. She bit her lip, wondering if now would be a good time to call on them. She never made a formal contract with Byakuya, so maybe she should start with Sosuke. She called over their group to where she was on the beach.

In the end, she decided to start with Byakuya, "Open: Gate of the Shinigami: Byakuya Kuchiki." This time, she actually got to watch him come. There was a cloud of white, and then Byakuya was appearing in front of her.

"Hello Byakuya. I hope you weren't busy," she said sheepishly, looking up at him hesitantly. He merely smiled at her calmly.

"No, although I am curious as to why you are calling me here. I sense no danger, and I felt no urgency from you before I felt your pull," he said, eyeing her over carefully, so as to make sure there were no injuries.

"No, nothing like that. It's just, my team and I are in training for a national magic competition in a few months, and I figured it would be a good idea to introduce you to them, so you can recognize them in the future, and know that they don't mean me any harm," she said, smiling at him. He simply nodded, before taking in her group of friends, who were strange looking to say the least.

"This is my team. The pink haired boy is Natsu, and he uses Fire Dragon Slayer magic. Gray is the one with black hair, he uses Ice Make magic, and he has a bit of a stripping habit. The red haired woman is Erza, and she uses requip magic. The blue haired woman is Juvia, and she uses water magic. The blue haired girl is Wendy, and she uses Sky Dragon Slayer magic. The other blue haired woman with the headband is Levy and she uses Script magic. The orange haired man is Jet, and he uses speed magic. Finally the other guy is Droy and he uses plant magic. Oh, and the blue cat is Happy and the white one is Carla, and they're Exceeds, which means they can fly and talk," she smiled at him. "You don't really need to know what their magic means at the moment, as it's kind of difficult to explain, but I'm sure you'll see them enough in the future to figure it out."

He nodded at each of them as they waved slightly or nodded in his direction. All of them appeared to be fairly capable from his limited knowledge of magic. From what he could tell, the most powerful was Erza, followed by Natsu and Gray, then Juvia, Wendy, and Levy, and finally Jet and Droy. However, he still wasn't entirely sure about whether or not he could trust them with her well being.

"Also, I may be calling you out over the next few months as we're training, either to be able to increase my magical energy, and thus increase the amount of time I can hold open your gate, or to have you spar with one of my team mates. Although, if I'm having you spar, it'll be mild, no serious injuries or anything. It'll help me to get a better idea of your abilities and the toll you take on my magical energy while I'm holding open your gate," she smiled at him again.

"That should be fine. Although I may need to leave quickly in some situations, I hope you understand," he said, looking down at the short blonde. She really was small, but he could tell she was powerful. He was becoming more used to measuring magic, and he could tell how much holding open his 'gate' took compared to how much she had, as well as how much her friends had. It was truly impressive. He could tell how much of this magical energy she had, and how much potential growth she had as well. He was looking forward to see how much she would grow.

"Okay, that's fine, thank you so much," she said, before he then began to disappear. "Until we meet again, Lucy Heartfilia," he said as he disappeared.

Lucy then repeated the process with Sosuke, introducing him to her team, and explaining to him what would be happening over the next three months. He reacted in much the same way, again, hesitant about her team mates and cooperative about the training. Erza couldn't help but notice both spirits' hesitance, and after Sosuke left, decided to ask her about it.

"Lucy, why do they seem so hesitant to trust us?" Erza asked cautiously, hoping not to upset the blonde. She knew Lucy was very protective of her spirits, and she didn't want to come off as suspicious or questioning of Lucy's spirits.

"Oh, you noticed that? I was hoping it was only me…" she said, chuckling while running her hand through her hair. "I think it has to do with the bond that's formed when I find a new key. You see, it's a very special bond, and I think it makes them extremely protective of me. I don't think you need to be too worried about it though. Once they get to know you more, I think that they'll trust you more as well," she smiled at Erza, who nodded her head in agreement. If Lucy thought it was fine, then she would trust her. They were her spirits after all.

Just then, Wendy came running up to Lucy, "Lucy, I found a key. I think it's one of the Shinigami keys!" She had a huge smile on her face as she held up a black key, the hilt of which resembled a cat's tail.

"Wow, it is one of the keys. Okay, let's see who we get!" she smiled at the little girl, who beamed up at her. Wendy saw Lucy as her older sister and loved making her happy.

"Open: Gate of the Shinigami!" she called out, placing the key before her. In front of her appeared a woman this time, with long purple hair tied back into a ponytail. She was wearing tight black pants and a tight black top, with an orange jacket over it, and her eyes were yellow and narrowed as they watched her.

"Who are you?" she asked Lucy, eyeing her up and down slowly, before moving to look at Erza and Wendy beside her. The others came up behind her as well, looking at the new spirit.

Lucy was confused for a second, before she figured she should just explain the situation. She told the woman her name and what she had discovered about the keys. The woman stood there and listened all the way through before nodding.

"Very well then, my name is Yoruichi Shihoin. It's a pleasure to meet you, Lucy. I'm afraid I wasn't aware of this, but that's because I don't live in the Soul Society any more. You seem to know little about us, though, if you think our power manifests solely in our zanpakuto's. There are four main areas of ability for us, and that is only the first area. We have Shunpo, which is speed and agility, Hakuda, which is hand to hand combat, and Kido, which are spells we cast using our reiatsu, or spiritual energy, which I'm guessing is similar to your magic," the woman said. She decided she liked Lucy. She was honest, and she could tell that she was trustworthy. Lucy hadn't said the names of the other Shinigami she had contracted, but she was sure she would find out in time. If they felt the same urges as she did, she knew that the woman was safe from them, even if it was Gin or Kenpachi that had fallen into her hands.

"Oh, wow, thank you very much. I love learning more about my spirits. Anyways, I'm done for now, so you're welcome to go back. I'll be training for the next several months, so I may be calling you back out to get a better idea about your abilities, but if you're busy you can just leave," she said, smiling.

"Thank you, Lucy, that's very kind of you," Yoruichi said, before she followed her reiatsu back to Earth.

'Hm… that was interesting. I can't wait to see what Kisuke has to say about this…' Yoruichi thought as she transformed back into her cat form.

...

Okay, so I decided to update this chapter fairly quickly, because I wanted you all to have a little bit more to go on as you decide whether or not you like it or not. You didn't really get all that much last chapter. Anyways, I hope you enjoy this! Please, review and tell me what you think, especially if you have a particular character you would like to see. I have the next couple of chapters planned out, but they're not set in stone, and if there's a character you ABSOLUTELY POSITIVELY want to see, I may or may not change my plans.

Also, check out my profile page for updates on stories, future possibilities for stories, and stuff like that! Thanks for reading :)


	3. A New Friend and a New Enemy

**Chapter 3: A New Friend and a New Enemy**

When Yoruichi returned to Urahara's shop, she pawed her way over to the man, and began clawing at his arm. He looked down at her, wondering what had her in such a good mood. "Yoruichi… did you break something…?" he questioned. Maybe it wasn't happiness, and she was trying to get away with something.

She then promptly changed back into human form, lying naked on his floor. "I didn't break anything. I just met someone very interesting today, and now I'm happy, and I don't really know why I'm happy, I just really like her is all."

"Her?" Kisuke asked, wondering what was up with his best friend. Yoruichi then explained about the keys and the other world and Lucy, how she had gotten there, and how Lucy had been so pure.

"So, let me get this straight. This girl can call Shinigami, and supposedly Arrancar as well, into her world, and we feel obligated to protect and serve her, essentially, and she is someone that you actually like?" he said. She was right, he was enjoying this. She could see the wheels in his head turning as he attempted to figure out just how it worked.

Then suddenly, her world stopped. Since she had returned yesterday evening, she had felt Lucy's lingering presence, always there and she knew that she was safe, but now the presence was gone. She searched out the girl's 'magical energy' and yet she couldn't find it anywhere. Lucy was gone.

…

Byakuya was in yet another meeting with the captains. He didn't understand why there were so many. They were at a stand-still with Aizen, as, for some reason, he had gone quiet, and the humans were all behaving, so he didn't understand why they had to have a meeting every day to discuss what had been happening. He was amusing himself by watching over Lucy. He wasn't going to lie. He found her to be quite relaxing and he felt quite bonded to her. It was as if in each passing minute he felt the connection more and more.

The other captains all snapped to attention when Byakuya sat up straight, his eyes narrowing as his mind slid off into another land. They thought that he was going to disappear into the other world again. Some of the captains were jealous that he was able to escape the boring and meaningless meeting when they saw the look in his eyes.

"Captain Kuchiki, what's the problem?" Ukitake asked him.

"I can't feel her. Her presence, everything, just disappeared," Byakuya said, still frantically searching for her, but she had vanished.

…

Aizen was sitting on his throne, watching over the Espada. He was putting his plans on hold for a while. Lucy was making things complicated, and he didn't want her to get mixed up in any of his plans, which meant he would have to wait some things out and think some things through before continuing his plan.

All of the Espada were gathered in the room, practicing or talking, or just watching the others, doing whatever they pleased. He liked to have this hour every day that he could just watch his underlings. It gave him a chance to watch them, see how much they grew and track their progress. It was important that he knew every part of their lives and what was happening with them, not that they would ever know what was happening with him.

Now he was thinking about her again. It was almost impossible not to, she was constantly at the back of his mind. He could hear her laughing and talking. Until he couldn't. He couldn't hear her any more. He couldn't see her when he closed his eyes. He couldn't feel her energy. He had to be careful. Every single Espada, along with Gin and Kaname were in the room right now, they couldn't know something was bothering him.

Where was she? Where did she go?

…

"Wait, one day here was three months back home!?" Lucy exclaimed at Virgo, who was grinning at her. It was sweet of her spirits to throw a party for their return, but nearly all of their training time was gone now, and they had only about a week left before the Grand Magic Games. She sighed, "Oh well, nothing to do about it now." Then she and her friends walked through the doorway that connected the Celestial Spirit World to Earthland.

…

"Yoruichi… Yoruichi…" Kisuke called from the hallway. "Listen I know you're sad, but you have to get over this, you knew her for less than a-" he opened the door to find Yoruichi sitting straight up, the biggest smile he had seen on her in 3 months on her face, and then she began disappearing. "YORUICHI WAIT WHERE ARE YOU GOING?!"

…

Another captain's meeting he was forced to attend, even less willingly than before, but they were making him. They knew he was in a funk, but she had just disappeared, and he couldn't figure out a way to even get to her world to search for her.

The captains again watched as Byakuya sat straight up, stoic expression still firmly in place, but his eyes gave him away, they were shining. Then, he began to disappear from the room, the captains calls disappearing as he followed the ribbon of gold to Lucy.

…

He had left his plans on hold for three months. The others were questioning him, but he told them it was because the timing wasn't right, which was true, technically. He couldn't think straight, and that is definitely not the right time to launch a full scale war. However, the timing wasn't right for other reasons as well, which was the only thing that kept some of his more intelligent underlings from questioning him, he supposed. However, he still couldn't keep his mind from trying to figure out what had happened.

He should appreciate the fact that he didn't have to worry about a weakness anymore, but damn that, he wanted to know where she had gone. This bond that had formed between them was obviously serious if he was still missing her three months later. If only he knew… Wait.

She was back, he could feel it, and thank any god out there that he was alone. He could just disappear for a little while and no one would notice. Just for long enough to check on her and find out where on or off Earth she had disappeared to.

…

Lucy had barely made it back onto Earthland before she saw a white billowing cloud before her, out of which Yoruichi, her eyes wide as she inspected every inch of Lucy. Then, not a second later, Byakuya was standing next to her, walking out of his white smoke, looking over her in the same detail. Finally, Sosuke emerged from the violet smoke that accompanied his arrival, and he, too, inspected her for any sign of injury.

"Guys, guys, what's wrong?" she questioned, eyeing them warily.

"What do you mean what's wrong?" Yoruichi exclaimed, nearly yelling in Lucy's ear.

"You disappeared without a trace for three months, that's what's wrong," Sosuke said at the same moment.

At the same time, Byakuya said, "I couldn't feel you."

It was then that the three realized who else was there. They jumped away from Lucy facing each other questioningly, cautiously.

"Guys? It's okay, my celestial spirits took me to the spirit world. They forgot to tell me that one night there is the equivalent of three months here, and so I had no idea I was going to be gone that long. And why are you looking at each other like that? Don't you know each other? You're all from my Shinigami keys," she said, looking at the three in confusion.

The three looked from Lucy to the other Shinigami, contemplating telling her everything about them and how they were connected, but when they made eye contact again, they decided it would be best to not share that information just yet. They didn't want her involved in any way, and her knowledge of the situation would involve her. They would tell her at a later date, possibly.

They could also tell that Byakuya wasn't planning on telling the other captains who she was contracted to, Aizen wasn't planning on telling the Arrancar anything, and Yoruichi wasn't going to tell Urahara who was connected to her. They would come to a temporary peace treaty through Lucy.

They relaxed and looked at Lucy again, "I'm sorry. We just weren't aware that more would be here, and I didn't know who all you had contracted," Yoruichi said, smiling at Lucy. She nodded hesitantly before looking back at the two men, who had also resumed a more relaxed position.

"We were just on high alert since you disappeared. It's been a difficult three months," Byakuya explained looking her over again, making sure she was truly alright.

"I would consider difficult to be an understatement," Sosuke said, looking Lucy in the eyes. He had long since learned the truth always lies within the eyes.

"I'm so sorry guys, I didn't mean to worry you so much. If I had known, I would have warned you! Also, I didn't get to learn about your abilities and the Grand Magic Games are next week! Oh no, what am I going to do?" she said, beginning to freak out, "Wait, maybe I shouldn't use you guys while I'm fighting, I don't really want every Celestial Wizard in the world trying to find you… Oh no, now I really don't know what to do…"

Yoruichi couldn't help but smile at the girl, she was sincerely sorry for worrying them, even though she really hadn't done anything wrong. "It's fine Lucy. If you call any one of us, I can guarantee we will fight our best for you. You still have another week as well. We can help you understand how we fight," she said, looking at the other two. The nodded in agreement.

Lucy looked at them, smiling at them. She told them that would be fine and they returned to their world.

…

Wow, that had been painful. Every single person on the beach had thoughts echoing the sentiment. It was kind of Jellal, Ultear, and Meredy to help them like this, but still, it was painful. Also, things had become somewhat… awkward. The atmosphere between Jellal and Erza was tense when they returned to the group that night.

"Lucy," Jellal said, approaching her. "I have become aware that you have found a new set of keys and are aiming to collect them all. I'm curious, is this one of the keys?" He was holding a black key in his hands, this one's handle resembled a chain of some kind, and the teeth looked like a scythe blade. Again, her face lit up, she had found another.

"Yes it is! Thank you very much!" she took the key and began inspecting it, allowing her fingers to become familiar with its shape. She would know each key just by touch in the dark, something she had learned from her mother. Jellal had begun to walk away, attempting to give her privacy to meet her new spirit, but she pulled his arm back.

"Where are you going? You can stay and watch," she smiled at him kindly. He was taken aback, but then nodded, agreeing to stay with her. He had always been curious about how Celestial wizards made their contracts. Besides, more than that, he wanted to know about this new set of keys.

"Open: Gate of the Shinigami!" she said confidently, placing the key in front of her, ready to see who her new friend was.

There was a green puff of smoke and then a man was standing before her… wearing nothing except a towel. He was staring wide eyed at the busty blonde girl in front of him, who had turned a truly glowing shade of crimson, then shifted his eyes the man with the blue hair behind him.

He had short, spiky black hair, deep grey eyes, and was tall, tan, and well-built. Definitely attractive, Lucy noticed. He had three long scars going through his right eye, a long blue-grey line tattooed on the left side of his face over his nose, and the number 69 tattooed on his left cheek. Around his neck was a black choker, with matching bands around his biceps. Her eyes traveled down, over the defined six pack and v-line, over the towel and the muscular legs. In his right hand was a katana, while his left hand held his towel at his hips.

"Umm… did I interrupt you during your… ahem… shower?" Lucy said, averting her eyes from the man to stare at her feet while biting her lip in embarrassment.

"Ahem, well I had actually just finished, I just hadn't gotten dressed yet," he said, watching her curiously. "Please tell me you're Lucy Heartfilia."

She looked up at him, nodding, surprised he knew who she was. After all, neither Aizen nor Yoruichi had any idea what was happening.

"Thank god, I was hoping you were," he said, "We don't really want the keys to end up in other people's hands."

"Yea, Byakuya mentioned that. Well, may I ask your name?" she asked, still not looking at him. Jellal had to admit this was fairly different from what he expected, but he guessed spirits had to shower too. He wondered if this had ever happened to her before.

"Shuhei Hisagi," the man said, nodding at her, and then at her friend. He could see what Byakuya was talking about now. He had this strange, pull, to her. He wanted to protect her, to make sure she stayed safe. He attributed the wariness he felt towards the blue haired man to the key.

"Oh, I'm sorry, this is my friend, Jellal Fernandes. He uses heavenly body magic, not that you would know what that is…" she said, trailing off at the end with a laugh.

"Is it common?" Shuhei asked, again looking at the man. He could feel a strange presence around the both of them, somewhat like reiatsu, but different. He assumed it was 'magic', and it was obvious that the man had a lot of it, given the pressure that emanated off of him.

"No, it's actually fairly rare. It requires large concentrations of magical energy as well as physical stamina and endurance," Jellal said. He could see that the man was cautious of him, although he didn't understand why, "It uses magic drawn from astronomical bodies, such as stars or meteors. Some would say that it's the Caster version of Celestial Magic."

"Really?" Lucy said, shifting her focus from her new spirit to Jellal. She had never thought of that. Yes, Celestial magic was considered 'heavenly', but she didn't think that it was the equivalent of Heavenly Body Magic.

"Caster version?" Shuhei questioned, not understanding the term.

"Caster magic means that the mage channels their magical energy directly into a spell, which then manifests that energy into a physical form, such as fire or water, while Holder magic, like Lucy's magic, transfers the user's magical energy into a magical object, such as a key, to activate the magic. And yes, Lucy, I, among others, believe that Heavenly Body Magic is the Caster equivalent of Celestial Spirit Magic. Your magic requires just as much magical energy, stamina, and endurance. In addition, I'd say Celestial magic is just as rare as Heavenly Body Magic, and successful Celestial Spirit mages are even more rare than Heavenly Body mages," he said, smiling at Lucy.

Shuhei unconsciously took a step towards the girl. He didn't know why. What was up with this weird protective instinct? It was almost animalistic. He also thought about what the man had said. It was obvious that Lucy didn't believe him, but he could sense it. The girl had just as much of this magic power as the man, and she seemed to think that this man was fairly powerful. He could also feel that it was her power that was feeding him, in a way. He could feel the connection to his world, and if he concentrated he could feel the path he followed to get here, the path was forged from her magic, he could tell. So, while he was here, she was constantly using her magic to keep him here.

"Excuse me, but I have a question," he said, interrupting Jellal from attempting to tell Lucy that she had more power than she let herself believe. Jellal could tell how much she had grown since he had last seen her.

"Yes, Shuhei?" she said, looking him in the eyes in order to avoid looking at the rest of his scantily clad body.

"So, you use magic to call us here, and then you steadily continue using magic the longer we stay here. If we were to begin battle, would the amount of energy you output stay constant, or would it increase based on how much energy we use?" he asked, genuinely curious. He also wanted to know, because if he had to protect her, he knew he couldn't exhaust her energy.

"The more energy you use, the more energy I use, which is why most people say that a spirit is only as strong as their mage. It's a relationship of give and take," she said, smiling at him. "I never use my spirits as a shield or as a weapon, I fight next to them, as one. We fight together."

He smiled at her, she reminded him of his former Captain, before he abandoned them and left. He, again, could see what Byakuya had meant. This wasn't an act, she was truly just an honorable person.

"Well, I should get back, seeing as I don't have any clothes on, and you must have things to do," he said, smiling at her. She said goodbye, and then he was disappearing in a green puff of smoke.

Jellal looked at her, "Do they often show up with no clothes on?"

She shook her head, blushing, before returning to the beach to be with the rest of her team, telling them about her new spirit.

…

When Shuhei got back to the Soul Society, there were far more people in the men's bathroom than when he had left. It seems that Renji had not only gotten Byakuya Kuchiki, but also every other male captain of the Gotei 13 to come to the men's bathroom, and a quick check of spiritual energy told him that the female captains were waiting just outside the door, along with several of the lieutenants.

"Ahem… Hello…" he said, placing his sword back next to his clothes, while he quickly tried to get into a stall in order to put some actual clothes on.

Byakuya was the first to speak, through the door of course, "I assume you met Lucy?"

"Well, yes," he said, although the sound was muffled as he pulled the shirt over his head.

"And you met her, while wearing only a towel?" Captain Hitsugaya said, and it was clear to hear the irritation in his voice. It was fairly obvious he wasn't entirely interested in being there. If it were up to him, he would just wait until he met her himself.

"Well, I didn't have much of a choice, although I'm pretty sure she was more embarrassed about it than I was," he said, walking out of the stall fully dressed. "If it means anything, I agree with Byakuya that her honesty and kindness isn't fake. I believe she truly is just a pure heart," he continued, grabbing his zanpakuto.

He left the bathroom, followed by the crowd that had followed him in there, and then when all of the captains and lieutenants were together told them what he had learned about magic, including how Lucy's magic specifically worked. Byakuya, specifically, appreciated the knowledge, so he knew to conserve his power to only what was necessary. Working with her would actually help all of them learn how to conserve their energy and defeating enemies in the minimum required time with the minimum required energy.

After Shuhei had finished, they all went their separate ways, waiting to see who would get called next. If they learned one thing today, it was that lieutenants, or those with the same level of magical energy, would most likely get called as well.

…

When they got back to the guild, they were greeted with the familiar yells and fighting that they knew they would only find at Fairy Tail. They laughed as barstools were thrown and shouting ensued. Lucy honestly did not envy Mira her job of keeping the bar stocked and in one piece. It would be difficult to say the least.

They were the last team to return, so now it was time for the announcement of who would be participating in the Grand Magic Games.

"Okay, listen up brats! It's time to announce who's representing Fairy Tail! Erza! Gray! Natsu! Wendy! Lucy!" Lucy nearly spit out her drink. WHAT?! He was having her participate in the games?!

"But Master! Surely there's someone more powerful than me that you can put in the Games. I can't do that, what are you doing?!" she yelled over the cheers.

"Blondie, stop that! Of course you're participating. Not only are you the Light of the Fairies, but you're powerful. Don't question yourself so much!" Laxus said, ruffling her hair. She hadn't realized he was standing behind her, and she turned around to become face to chest with the man. She had to lift her head to look him in the eyes, which were sparkling with humor, but she also saw confidence in his words.

She sighed, she knew she wasn't gonna get out of it. Oh well, she'd just have to deal with it. She smiled at her team, this was going to be fun if nothing else.

…

In Crocus, Natsu had dragged her out to see the city before their curfew forced them to go to bed. It was truly a beautiful city, and she wished she could see it with her spirits, but she supposed they were watching from the Spirit World.

A commotion drew their attention. There was a large crowd gathered around two men and a woman. The men seemed to be exact opposites, one with blonde hair and wearing practically nothing in all white, and one with black hair, wearing heavy layers. The girl had short white hair and a large white coat on.

The blonde spotted Natsu and began taunting him, claiming that he and the other man were dragon slayers who had been raised by dragons, but also killed them. They called themselves third generation dragon slayers, claiming they also had had lacrimas implanted in them to further gain the powers of the dragons.

The white haired woman was looking at Lucy in interest, well at Lucy's keys. Lucy realized her black keys were clearly visible, but figured that if no one knew what they were it wouldn't be a problem. Besides, she wouldn't allow anyone to take her keys from her.

That was when the blonde noticed Lucy, who had been too preoccupied watching the other girl to notice the fight that was about to start between Natsu and the two men. The blonde was trying, and succeeding, to rile Natsu up, and he figured the perfect way to do so was to pick on Lucy.

"Hey, chick, are you his girlfriend?" the blonde questioned Lucy, looking her up and down slowly.

"No, I'm his partner," she said, switching her attention from the girl to blonde man. The way he was looking at her left her slightly uneasy, although not completely uncomfortable. She could tell that he was just trying to rile Natsu up, and she wouldn't allow them to get into a fight before the Games even started.

Even so she felt a warmth on her side coming from her keys, but she didn't look down on them. She just figured it was Loke being upset that another man was hitting on her. The white haired woman, however, was watching her keys, and was intrigued that the four black keys, which were what had initially caught her interest, began glowing, one in green, one in violet, and two in white.

"How about you ditch the loser, and come hang out with me for a while?" the blonde one questioned her again, sidling up beside her and wrapping an arm around her waist.

Before she even had the chance to deny him, and before Natsu had the chance to punch him out of the way, Byakuya had arrived, placing himself between the two blondes and wrapping his own arm around the waist of his wizard, his other hand resting at his sword. The white haired woman's eyes flew open, because she knew the man had come from one of the black keys, but she didn't know how it was possible.

"If you would refrain from placing your hands on Miss Heartfilia, I would greatly appreciate it," he practically growled, glaring down at the blonde. His reiatsu was spiking around him, pushing towards the blonde, who was forced to take a step back in surprise. The girl didn't seem like much of a threat at all, and yet, here she was, with something like this up her sleeve.

He quickly got over his surprise and was about to challenge the mystery man, when the white haired girl went up to him, putting an hand on his arm and said something that prompted him to walk away, followed closely by the black haired man who had simply watched the entire display.

It was then that Lucy truly felt the warmth from her keys, and she recognized the heat as anger. She could feel their feelings just as easily as they could feel hers. Byakuya was soon joined by Yoruichi, Shuhei, and Aizen, who all questioned whether or not she was okay, and then told her that if she ever needed help to simply call on them. She nodded, agreeing to call on them for anything.

Then she said, "By the way, I've thought about this a lot, and I think it would be best if I don't call you out during the Games unless absolutely necessary. First of all, I still don't know much about your abilities, and secondly, I don't want anybody to question my black keys and start trying to find the others. Most celestial wizards abuse the power they have over their spirits, and while I don't know any other celestial spirits and, though celestial magic is extremely rare, I would still feel more comfortable with not alerting the world to your presence."

They all nodded at her, before Byakuya leaned over to say something to Sosuke, but Lucy was distracted by Yoruichi who said, "Would there be any way that I could come out and watch the fights. I would like to know more about magic and your friends."

"Oh, that reminds me. I got something for you," she said, as she began searching through her bag. She pulled out a rather large blue crystal ball. "This is a TV lacrima, it'll allow you and your friends to watch the Games, that way you can maybe understand magic a little better and see the type of magic my friends use," she smiled at the woman.

Byakuya and Sosuke stepped up to her, their conversation apparently over. "Would you happen to have two more of those? I'm afraid neither myself nor Yoruichi actually lives within the Soul Society at the moment."

Byakuya and Shuhei looked at the man strangely, and Lucy could tell something was going on, but the personal life of her spirits was none of her business, and she would not push them. They would tell her when they wanted to.

She smiled at him, pulling out two more, handing one to Byakuya and Shuhei and another to Sosuke, "I figured you guys weren't living in the same place as Byakuya, this 'Soul Society', given your lack of knowledge of the situation when I called you the first time, as I knew Byakuya had told all those he could."

Sosuke smiled before returning to his spirit world, followed closely by Sosuke and Yoruichi, while Byakuya remained behind for a moment. She smiled at him questioningly.

He smiled back, taking the ball in his hands, before placing his hand on her cheek. "We were all angry, and I could feel how uncomfortable you felt. I hope you don't mind my stepping in," he said, looking into her eyes.

"Of course not, I wasn't expecting it, but its fine," she said. She was feeling uncomfortable, and she was just glad they avoided a fight. That would have been bad if a fight had actually broken out. He nodded once more before returning to the Soul Society, where he showed them the lacrima she had given him. A few of the captains were interested, even if for different reasons. Mayuri was excited to see magic for research purposes, while Kenpachi wanted to see if there was anyone worth fighting.

…

Back in Hueco Mundo, Aizen thought about his conversation with the black haired man. It was true that allowing the Captain Commander to know that Lucy had his key was not smart, as they had agreed they would keep it hidden. Given the fact that the Soul Society would apparently be watching the Games, he also knew that it would smart if he would not pop out in the middle of a fight, but leave it to the other three.

He knew the Captain Commander wouldn't necessarily be happy that the former Captain Yoruichi was one of her keys, but it wasn't cause for him to seek out the girl as leverage, but if he knew she had Aizen's key, he wasn't sure if he would take into consideration the damage to Captain Kuchiki and Lieutenant Hisagi that any harm to the girl would make. The man wasn't cruel in any sense of the word, but Aizen was a big threat, he though smugly.

No, he knew better than to go to her aid in battle during the Grand Magic Games or to allow Yamamoto to learn of his involvement with the girl until a great deal more than one of his Captains and one of his Lieutenants was also connected to the girl.

He was curious, however, how Yamamoto would react to her if she got her hands on any of the Espada's keys. He knew that they were equal in strength to the Shinigami, and he would be willing to bet that they had keys, and she was aware of the fact, even if she didn't know what an Arrancar was. He also knew that Yamamoto knew that she would most likely one day get her hands on an Arrancar key. However, he didn't think he would seek out the girl as leverage if it was just his Espada that were contracted to her, or even Tosen or Gin for that matter. No, he would only cause harm to the girl if knowledge that she had his key somehow got to him.

Therefore, although he wasn't happy with it, he would concede to Byakuya's request that during the Games he leave the protection of the girl to the three of them.

…

Meanwhile in Sabertooth, Sting was grumbling about the black haired spirit 'cock-blocking' his chance with the blonde girl. However, Yukino was thinking about the man in an entirely different light. Although the oblivious Sting didn't realize her uneasiness, Rogue did and turned to look at her, lifting an eyebrow to silently ask her what was wrong.

"Well you see, that man came from one of the four black keys sitting with the rest of her Zodiac and silver key spirits," she said. She remembered Lucy from when she was a child, looked up to her even, having Ten of the Zodiacs, but even she hadn't anticipated her power. "Those black keys had a very similar feeling to the two white keys I have but haven't been able to call upon yet."

"Oh yea, had any luck with that?" Sting asked, looking at the white haired woman.

"No, they require an extreme amount of energy to call upon, and I don't have anywhere near that much power. However, even if I had the power, I don't think I'd be able to summon them," she said, frowning.

"Why not?" Rogue asked, curious now.

"Every time I even try to touch the key I get burnt, as if it didn't want contact with me. I know it's some kind of Celestial related key, because I can sometimes feel the emotions of the spirits connected to them, especially rage. A lot of rage comes from the one with the blue markings," she shivered. "Anyways, those black keys feel like the same magic as my white keys, which means that the keys don't reject her, and she has the power to open them. Not to mention, she didn't call that spirit. The spirit came to her, of his own will."

"So what?" Sting asked, interested in the girl, who apparently had a lot more power than he initially thought, but not seeing the significance.

"Only spirits with a strong connection to their wizard and with extreme amounts of magical energy can open their own gates to come here, and that's usually only in times of extreme negative emotion. She was uncomfortable, but not extremely angry or distressed, yet he could still pass through on his own," she said. "This is significant for two reasons. First, she has an extremely strong connection with her spirits. If her spirits even sense the slightest danger, they can come out on their own without affecting her magical energy at all, it would only be using their own energy. Second, her spirits are extremely powerful if they can come out on their own even if she's just feeling slightly uncomfortable."

"Why are you saying 'they' and 'spirits'? There was only the one dude," Sting said.

"All four of her keys were glowing, which means they were preparing to come through, if he hadn't gotten there first, you would have met one of the others," Yukino said.

Sting and Rogue took a minute to think about what they had learned, along with Yukino. Sting was excited because the blonde was hot and powerful, maybe he could really get her to go out with him. It'd be great for him, and he'd get under Natsu's skin even more. Rogue considered the possibilities of what Yukino had told him, if Yukino figured out how to call on her white keys, it could make her much more powerful. Finally, Yukino considered whether or not the blonde would tell her how she got the keys to stop rejecting her.

...

Whew, that was a long one!

Okay, so first, the time on this in the Bleach world is weird, cause it's not following the canon 'timeline' or else by now Ichigo would be invading Hueco Mundo or at least met the Arrancar. None of this has happened, Aizen hasn't taken Orihime, or is even interested in Orihime. Ulquiorra and Yammy haven't been to the world of the living. He literally put EVERYTHING on hold when she went missing. I want to stress how serious their bond is, it'll become important in later chapters, trust me. Therefore, Aizen completely put his plans on hold, and no one is really questioning it. He's still waiting for the Hogyoku to awaken and all that fun stuff.

Given that, when Byakuya mentions the Arrancar, he isn't thinking of the powerful ones Aizen created, he's talking about the somewhat disgusted, imperfect Vasto Lordes Arrancar that had managed to somehow become Arrancar. Imagine his surprise when he first sees an Arrancar, hehehehehehehe. I can't wait for that scene, cause I already know what it'll be.

Now, second, I feel bad for essentially 'killing off' Yukino in my other story Trapped, cause I actually quite like her, so she's definitely in this story. However, no she will not be able to call any of the Arrancar or Shinigami. And I'll give you a cookie if you can guess who one of the keys is, hehe (not really, I don't have any cookies). However, it will be interesting to see their reactions to the events of the Grand Magic Games, don't you think. I'm excited, aren't you excited?

Third, what did you think of Shuhei's introduction *laughs evilly* In case you couldn't tell, I love putting Lucy in awkward situations with hot men.

Also, the color that their keys glow and the color of light they emerge from is actually the color of their reiatsu, in case you didn't notice or even know that reiatsu had a color. Eventually, Lucy will learn more about reiatsu and her spirits abilities.

Finally, I am NOT a fan of the art after the time skip, and in my mind I am picturing these attractive characters BEFORE the time skip as I write. Especially for Byakuya. Definitely Byakuya. No offense to the creators of the Bleach anime, but seriously people? He lost his voluminous hair and expressive eyes on his ever stoic face.

Anyways, that's it, so review and tell me what you think about the chapter and my little author's note here at the end.


	4. The Grand Magic Games

**Chapter 4: The Grand Magic Games**

It was day one of the Grand Magic Games, and Lucy's team had just barely managed to make its way into the competition, along with a second group from Fairy Tail.

"What!" Natsu screamed when he saw Team Fairy Tail B walk into the arena.

"Mystogan?!" Lucy exclaimed. Wait, that can't be right, Mystogan is in Edolas… does that mean… that's Jellal? 'Mystogan' put a finger in front of his face to hide the fact that it was actually Jellal behind the mask and not Mystogan. They quickly nodded before Natsu again began yelling about why they were in the competition at all.

Mira calmly explained that whichever team won would get to ask someone from the other team a favor that they couldn't refuse. By the look in Gajeel's eye, she could tell that if they won, she'd be wearing a bunny suit. She glared at him before pouting to the side.

The announcements were soon over, and the first game was about to begin. Gray volunteered to enter from their team, and Lucy, Erza, Natsu, and Elfman made their way over to their balcony to watch. As the game went on, Lucy could feel herself grow more and more angry, watching as the Raventail wizard deliberately sought out Gray and Juvia throughout the entirety of the event. She could also feel her ire growing towards the masked blonde haired mage from Sabertooth that also seemed to be playing with Gray as the game continued on. Her spirits felt her anger, and could see why she was growing mad, watching from the lacrimas she had given them.

First, the Raventail guild had the audacity to attempt and kidnap Wendy, rendering her incapable of participating in at least the first day of the Games, and possibly even the second day. Then, they deliberately seek out to place Fairy Tail in the bottom two for the very first event. Her anger only grew as she heard the booing of the crowd as they announced the wizards from Fairy Tail. She wasn't usually the one to take such things to heart, but she was already mad, and it was quite obvious that sabotage was involved in the entire event.

The first fight of the day was between Wizard Saint Jura and 'Mystogan', who was secretly also a former Wizard Saint. The fight was going to be interesting at the very least, and her team's spirits picked up as she watched the two mages approach the center of the arena.

In the Soul Society, all of the captains and lieutenants were gathered to watch the Grand Magic Games, along with a few of the more interested seated officers, including Ikkaku and Yumichika, who were both hoping they had a key, given they would get to participate in more interesting battles. They could tell something fishy was happening during the game, but they didn't understand what, and Byakuya and Shuhei could feel Lucy's frustration and anger growing. Similarly, Aizen could feel it in Hueco Mundo, where he, too, was watching the Games. Yoruichi was watching as well with Urahara.

Back to the Soul Society, they watched as the fight between the bald man and the masked man began in awe. Almost immediately, the masked man, Mystogan, threw his sticks to the ground only to begin dodging the incredibly large earth pillars that began moving towards him. He did an incredibly job of dodging and blocking them, before landing on the ground.

The sticks formed a circle around the bald man, Jura, as Mystogan called something out about a magic circle, and then 5 circles of light appeared above the man, blasting down on him. They watched as the fight progressed. What they were watching made little to no sense to them, but they were enthralled by the power. As Mystogan fell to the ground, they looked up to see 7 of those 'magic circles' connected in the sky. He yelled out 'Grand Chariot' and what looked like stars began raining down on Jura, who protected himself with a larger version of himself made of rock.

Mystogan said "True Heavenly Body Magic" before a dark cloud formed above the arena, and they could almost feel the power pulsing from the orb that Lucy had given to them. They watched, excited to see what would happen next, but were confused as he began laughing around the ground, and then his face scrunched up as if he had eaten something sour before he passed out unconscious.

The two contracted spirits could feel the confusion coming from Lucy as well, and could tell that she hadn't expected that either. Then relief washed over her for a reason they didn't understand, but they let it go.

They watched the fight between Ren and Arana Webb, which wasn't particularly interesting, although they all did want to know more about this magic. They watched as the large mint haired man defeated his opponent in a single blow and then proceeded to sing his own praises, rather badly they couldn't help but notice.

The next fight was the one they were truly interested in. Lucy would be fighting a woman named Flare from a guild named Raventail. They could see the determination in her eyes, and when the camera moved over to Lucy's guild, Fairy Tail, they could see a rather small old man violently shouting encouragements at Lucy, while some of the people behind him were saying, "Calm down Master." They didn't know what it meant but they obviously respected the man. Byakuya made a mental note to ask Lucy about it later.

Lucy was holding her own against Flare extremely well, until something changed. They were surprised when she called out her three spirits, which were interesting looking at the very least. Lucy appeared to be able to fight Flare on her own as well, using her whip, which seemed to move and grow according to Lucy's wishes, extremely well.

She sent a frantic look towards her guild before Flare began a barrage against Lucy. The captains watched as Byakuya and Shuhei narrowed their eyes but made no move to go to her. Noticing their stares, Shuhei explained that the redhead was threatening a little girl and Lucy was allowing her to beat on her until her friend noticed. She had sent them a mental message to keep them from coming to her, no matter how much they wanted to. They continued to grow more tense, until they relaxed and Lucy called out another spirit.

They watched as the two small beings transformed into her, albeit in a towel. There was a small conversation between the two, and Byakuya could feel the perverted eyes and knowing smirks on Shunsui and Kenpachi, but chose to ignore it in favor of watching the blonde's next move. He watched in awe along with the others as the arena filled with stars and then the stars began crashing down until they stopped and Lucy fell to the ground.

Before anyone knew what was happening, Byakuya and Shuhei had disappeared and reappeared in the arena, along with one Yoruichi Shihoin. Lucy was unconscious, but everyone saw the three spirits and couldn't believe the speed they traveled at, and the only thing they heard as any indication of what had happened was a male voice saying, "Reap, Kazeshini."

In a single instant, Flare was surrounded. The tall man with long black hair and a long white scarf around his neck had his sword to her back. Wrapped around her body, holding her arms and hair in place, was a long chain, attached to the darker man's two scythe like blades in his hands. The woman was in front of her, hand on her neck loosely. The audience's eyes went from the three spirits to the unconscious blonde girl. Had she summoned them? If so, how was she still holding them there without any magic or even being conscious. Even the Fairy Tail members were completely confused, although they knew about the new spirits.

"Obra, I thought you drained her magic," hissed Ivan, disguised as Alexi.

"I did…" he said, "They're not using her magic… In fact, I don't think they're using magic at all."

"What do you mean?" Ivan asked angrily.

"I can't drain their magic, or whatever they're using," he whispered back.

After breaking out of his shock, Mato approached the group, "Um, excuse me, but the match is over I'm afraid." They glared over at him, but reluctantly released the girl. Shuhei released his zanpakuto of its shikai and sheathed his katana before approaching the blonde, picking her up and asking where to take her.

Her team came running down, and although he didn't recognize them, Yoruichi and Byakuya did. Lucy remained in his arms, against the pink haired man's wishes, but the redhead quickly led them to the infirmary. Once safely in the walls, Aizen appeared, looking over the girl, who was now laying in one of the beds.

The infirmary was empty with the exception of a young blue haired girl who was sleeping in one of the beds and an elderly pink haired lady. Upon seeing them, she let out a sigh and said, "Who are you?" addressing the spirits and then looking at the Fairy Tail mages, "Get out of my way, I need to see the woman."

"Those are some of Lucy's spirits, Porlyusica, and yes of course," the redhead said, moving out of the woman's way. Porlyusica looked at the spirits oddly, then glared, huffed, and made her way to Lucy.

"What did you guys do to her?" she looked at the spirits. "She's been completely drained of her magical energy."

They looked confused, but the redhead answered again, "Her magic was drained during her casting of Urano Metria, however, it felt like it was drained from an outside source not the spell. They showed up afterwards of their own power."

Again Porlyusica looked at them weirdly, then huffed again, as if in exasperation, before saying, "She'll be fine after she sleeps a bit. She isn't that injured, she's just magically exhausted." She then left to go check on the blue haired girl before going back to her corner of the room, where she glared at them.

"Sorry about her, she doesn't really like people, I'm Gray by the way. I didn't recognize you," the black haired man without a shirt said, looking at Shuhei. He introduced himself quickly before looking over at the pink haired man who had rushed to Lucy's side as soon as Porlyusica had left. Erza noticed this, and remembering her conversation with Lucy put a hand on his shoulder, pulling him away from the girl. They were already tense and didn't need any extra stress.

"I'm Erza Scarlet, it's a pleasure to meet you, this is Natsu Dragneel and this is Elfman Strauss," the redhead said, nodding at him. Suddenly the door shoved open. Fairy Tail Team B came rushing in. The spirits tensed again, taking their places by Lucy's side.

The newcomers seemed content to just stand by the foot of her bed. Laxus, recognizing Aizen nodded at him, who simply stared back, before dropping his head in a nod, acknowledging his presence.

"Is she alright," the white haired woman said, looking at Erza, while the blue haired woman went to wrap her arm around Gray, who looked decidedly uncomfortable.

"Yes, just magically exhausted. I think someone outside of the fight somehow drained her magic," Erza said.

The blonde haired man nodded, "I sensed something weird happening. No way Blondie would pass out in the middle of a spell like that. She had more than enough energy to complete the spell without fainting. She would've been damn tired, but not unconscious."

"I'd be willing to bet it was that god damned Raventail," the black haired man with the extreme amount of piercings said, frowning, then looking at her spirits. "I gotta say, I was surprised to see you guys show up. Bunny Girl's strong, but I didn't think she could summon spirits while unconscious."

"She didn't. We came on her own," Aizen said, eyeing the man up and down.

His eyes widened, "Oh. Just as well. I'm Gajeel Redfox, Iron Dragon Slayer."

"Sosuke Aizen," the brown haired Shinigami introduced himself. He could tell the man was strong, and fairly familiar with Lucy, given his nickname for her. He turned his attention to the blonde one, Laxus. He also seemed to have a nickname for her.

Trying to ease the tension in the room, the white haired woman said, "Hello, it's a pleasure to meet you. My name is Mira Jane Strauss. It's good to know Lucy has such loyal spirits." It seemed innocent to the spirits, but the way she was looking at the males and Lucy made Erza shiver, while Gray blanched as Mira's gaze took in Juvia's hands around Gray's torso.

Juvia and Laxus then all introduced themselves, followed by the Shinigami.

"Oh yea, Je- Mystogan, what the hell happened out there?" Gray asked, chuckling a little as he drew the attention to the masked man, who most of the others had forgotten about.

"It's okay, Gray, we're alone here," Jellal took off his hood and the handkerchief covering his face, and Shuhei recognized him. "I'm Jellal Fernandes, and I was about to do a spell that would reveal my true identity to the Magic Council, so it seems Ultear had Meredy use her body link magic between Meredy and I. Ultear then tickled Meredy and fed her sour pears, which in turn, led to my laughter and sour face, as well as my humiliation."

Natsu burst out laughing at that, along with Gray, while Gajeel and Laxus just chuckled smirking, and Juvia, Erza, and Mira smiled, while the Shinigami just looked confused. Erza noticed this and explained to them Jellal's backstory, or at least part of it, as well as Meredy's body link magic. They nodded in understanding, Yoruichi and Shuhei also finding it extremely funny, while Aizen merely smiled, and Byakuya remained stoic.

The spirits then returned to their realm, content that Lucy was okay.

…

When Byakuya and Shuhei returned to the Soul Society, Yamamoto said, "Why didn't you tell me she also had the key of Yoruichi Shihoin?"

"I didn't find it relevant," Byakuya answered, "We are currently on relatively good terms with her, so I didn't think she would be a threat." Yamamoto nodded, seemingly satisfied with his answer, even if he wasn't satisfied with the situation. There was nothing to do, and he was right, there was no threat from it.

"What the hell happened? The chick looked like she was gonna do something great then it just stopped," Kenpachi said. He had wanted to see the end of the fight.

"Someone outside of the fight drained her power directly following the completion of the incantation, causing her to faint," Byakuya explained. "It appears there is some bad blood between the master of her guild, Makarov, and the master of Raventail, Ivan."

Shuhei then explained what had happened with Jellal, explaining everything he had learned regarding the man as well as what had happened. Quite of the few had found it highly amusing, while Kenpachi just said he wanted to fight him and Jura.

…

It was day two of the Grand Magic Games and Natsu was determined to participate in the game, no matter how obviously it was going to involve transportation. It was easy for Lucy's spirits, both Shinigami and Zodiac, to feel her frustration at Natsu for participating in a game called 'Chariot' when he got motion sickness. Although it seems, Sting was just as stupid as Natsu in that matter. It was then revealed to the world that Dragon Slayers were weak to modes of transportation.

Yoruichi was quite literally rolling on the floor laughing, while Urahara watched on, amused at the display. However, Yoruichi stopped laughing at Sting's question. She recognized the man as the one that had made Lucy uncomfortable the other day and already didn't like him.

Their answer made her smile. Those were good friends to have, she had been unsure about them before, but they were clearly quite loyal friends. She could feel the sadness coming from Lucy, along with happiness and determination, and she came to the conclusion that she was one of the people that had disappeared for seven years that Natsu had mentioned. When the match ended, the stadium had gained some respect for the two Fairy Tail teams, who were so determined to fight for their friends.

When it came time for Elfman's fight against Bacchus, everyone was paying attention. Bacchus was an impressive fighter by normal standards, but his bet left Elfman fuming. Those who were watching from the lacrima saw the shocked faces of two white haired women as the camera shifted to capture the object of Bacchus's bet.

"I met her yesterday," Yoruichi said. "She seems very nice, I hope that Elfman wins. That's a cruel thing to bet."

She watched the fight progress, the man was attacking so fast, she would have thought he was using Shunpo. His hits also apparently held extra power, as they left quite a few marks on Elfman. She was also surprised by his ability to transform into beasts, albeit beasts she had never heard of before.

Elfman told Bacchus that if he won, he was going to change his guild's name from Quatro Cerberus to Quatro Puppy for the remainder of the competition, which earned a bark of laughter from Yoruichi and a chuckle from Urahara. Then, Bacchus opened up the container by his side, and began drinking the alcohol from it until it was drained. If possible, he seemed to get even faster, and his attacks were unpredictable. It was unconventional, but Yoruichi supposed that was one way to be unpredictable in battle. However, it seemed more damage was done to Bacchus's hands than Elfman's now scaly body.

"What the hell is that thing?" Yoruichi said, before the announcers answered for her, calling it a 'Lizardman'.

The battle ended with Elfman winning, and Quatro Cerberus's name changing to Quatro Puppy. Elfman seemed to be extremely happy with the outcome, and his team mates were crying in happiness. Yoruichi could feel Lucy's own happiness radiating within her, which in turn made her happy.

"Well, at least there was no outside interference today," Urahara commented. He rather hoped she found his key. He would love to see this in person.

…

Next was Mira Jane's 'battle' with Jenny, which caused a lot of happiness from the Seireitei, as they watched all of the women in the arena magically change their clothes for the camera.

"What kind of battle is this?" Toshiro grumbled, not at all interested in watching the women. Kenpachi had been slightly disappointed, but at this point was actually quite satisfied with watching. He doubted either of the women would have been a very interesting opponent anyways.

That was until Jenny proposed her own bet, to which Mira obliged. They watched Jenny change into her battle form, but were blown away when the white haired mage emerged from the light that had clung to her a completely different woman, looking like a demon.

"As long as we actually fight," Mira said, smiling. "I agreed to your terms and this is mine." Then, she flew towards Jenny, punching her in the face, knocking her out and winning the match. She returned to normal, and needless to say, most of the jaws in the room in Soul Society were touching the floor.

They didn't know what she had done, but they wanted to know. That was incredible. It was like she had turned into a different person. The announcers called it 'Take over Satan Soul'. Apparently, she practiced similar magic to her brother, but instead of transforming into beasts, she transformed into demons.

…

After Yukino's battle, Lucy couldn't help but feel bad for her. She felt sorry for the girl, but could tell she treated her spirits fairly. She was a little disappointed that the girl had the remaining Zodiac keys, but there was nothing to be done.

Therefore, when she saw the poor girl naked in the street, she couldn't help but to bring her to where she and her friends were staying. Natsu had disappeared in a rage, but she had stayed with Yukino.

"Lucy… Can I ask you how you're able to summon your black keys?" Yukino asked.

"What?" Lucy said, looking at her in surprise.

"I have these white keys, which I can tell are similar to your keys, but I can't… summon them. First of all, I don't have enough power, and second of all, every time I touch them, they try to burn me. Do the black keys burn you?" she explained.

"No, they don't. Would you mind if I see them?" Lucy said. Yukino pulled out the cloth covered keys. She couldn't even keep them in her pocket.

Lucy picked them up, and Yukino's brows furrowed when it was obvious the blonde didn't feel a burn.

"They're not burning you," Yukino said in amazement. Then she made up her mind, pulling out her Zodiac keys, "Lucy, I would like you to take my keys. It is now obvious that you are more worthy of them than I am."

Lucy stared at her in disbelief, then at the keys. She curled Yukino's hand around her Zodiac spirits, "I cannot take your friends from you. You treat them well, and you deserve them. However, may I have your white keys? I believe they belong to a set I am collecting. They are very rare, and only certain mages are able to summon them. I don't wish to be rude, but since you say you can't open them, I am asking if you will allow me to take them. It's okay if you say no, I won't like you any less."

Yukino looked at her, seeing nothing but the truth in her eyes. She was so kind, even though Sabertooth had obviously made an enemy of Fairy Tail. "Of course you can take them. I can't summon them, and you are more than deserving of them. However, the one with the blue markings… I think you should wait until after the Games to summon it."

Lucy looked at her, confused, "Why?"

"Even though I couldn't touch them, I could feel them when they were particularly emotional. The blue one is really angry, like all the time. I just think that it would be better to wait, but the one with the pink should be fine," Yukino said.

Lucy nodded, "Would you like to watch me summon it?" she asked. Yukino nodded eagerly, she had wanted to know what was hiding behind those keys for months.

"Open: Gate of the-" Lucy was going to say Shinigami, but something was telling her it wasn't a Shinigami. "Arrancar," she ended, and sure enough a puff of pink smoke signaled the arrival of a spirit.

He looked different than all of the Shinigami, although his clothing was similar to Aizen's, and he felt different to Lucy as well. A tall man appeared before her, with pink hair down to his shoulders, two pieces falling in front of his golden eyes. It looked like he had white glasses on, but they had no frame and appeared to be made of bone. He had on a form fitting white shirt and loose fitting pants. At his side was a sword, a zanpakuto Lucy assumed.

When her gaze went back to his face, she saw his eyes were traveling over her as well, beginning at her feet and rising upwards slowly, as if committing it to memory. When his eyes reached hers, she held the eye contact. They stayed in silence for several moments, until Lucy spoke.

"My name is Lucy Heartfilia, are you aware of what's happening right now?" she asked him.

He narrowed his eyes at her. "No, I am not, although I must admit I am curious. I am no longer in Hueco Mundo, nor am I in the world of the living or the Soul Society, so where am I and how did I get here?"

Lucy explained to him what she had explained to all of her previous spirits, with the exception of Shuhei, who had already known.

"I see. Who all have you… contracted?" he said, curious which souls had found their keys in her hands. He wondered if she had any other Arrancar and who they were, as well as which Shinigami she possibly had. He wondered if Aizen knew about her, or about his absence. At this point he wasn't sure he wanted to tell him if he didn't ask, or even if he did ask. He found he wanted to protect the girl, which put his scientific brain into overdrive trying to figure out why he wanted to protect her. He had felt her as soon as she placed her hand on his 'key', although he didn't understand it at the time, he did have a basic understanding now. Once he found out who all she had contracted, he would decide whether or not to inform Aizen. If there were large amounts of Shinigami captains that could be harmed through harming her, he most definitely would not tell Aizen, who would sooner cause pain to him than to let an opportunity like this slide past him.

Lucy pondered his question. Her Shinigami spirits all knew who the others were, and Byakuya had mentioned the Arrancar so she figured it would be alright. "I contracted Byakuya Kuchiki first, then Sosuke Aizen, followed by Yoruichi Shihoin, and finally Shuhei Hisagi."

If he hadn't caught himself, his jaw would have dropped open. He didn't recognize the final two names, but the first and most definitely the second name he had heard. He no longer questioned whether or not Aizen would hurt her. Of course he wouldn't, he was connected to her just as much as he was at this point, possibly even more. He considered the possibility that the bond grows with time, and decided he would need to keep a log of his feelings and what was happening throughout their connection.

"Um… excuse me, would you mind telling me your name?" she asked him.

He looked up at her and he nodded, "My name is Szayelapporo Granz, however most people just call me Szayel."

She saw him staring at his eyes, and he couldn't think of why. She noticed his look of confusion and blushed, "Are your frames… made of bone? And why are you wearing frames without any lenses?" she asked him.

He mentally went through the names again and realized that, while Aizen lived in Hueco Mundo with them, she hadn't met an Arrancar yet. "They are made of bone, and that would be, because they are the remains of my mask." He then explained to her what an Arrancar really was. She nodded in understanding, thinking she got the picture of what an Arrancar was. She had blushed and looked away from his eyes when he mentioned where his hollow hole was located, which caused him to smirk slightly. She was incredibly easy to read, it appeared.

Suddenly, another pink haired man burst into the room, followed closely by a black haired man who was unbuttoning and removing his shirt, for no apparent reason, as it was obvious the now half naked man was extremely angry with the pink haired man, who was carrying what appeared to be a blue cat wearing a green back pack.

"What the hell Flame Brain?! You could have gotten us kicked out of the competition," the black haired man yelled, now working on the button and zipper of his pants.

"Like I care Ice Prick. He deserved it and you know it," the pink haired man, presumably Natsu, answered, huffing at the black haired man, who had slipped his pants off and looked like he was about to take off his boxers.

Szayel had been so focused on the two men she hadn't noticed the look of increasing agitation etched clearly upon Lucy's face.

"GRAY YOUR CLOTHES!" she snapped out in a yell, staring at the man who had almost rid himself of his last garment. He looked at her confused, his eyes briefly ghosting over Szayel, before looking down at himself. His eyes then widened in an honest show of shock and he yelled, "When the hell did that happen?!" before moving to retrieve his clothes.

"And Natsu, what. did. you. do?" she asked, her gaze turning Natsu, who seemed oblivious to her anger as he turned to Szayel, cocking his head to the side in an obvious show of confusion.

"Hey Luce, who's that guy? He smells funny," Natsu said, looking him over again. Szayel noticed the blonde visibly sag, as if she couldn't handle another second of the man's idiocy before composing herself.

"Natsu, this is my spirit, Szayel. He's an Arrancar, which I'll explain to you later, after you tell me what you did that could have gotten us kicked out of the Grand Magic Games," Lucy said, glaring at the pink haired man, who only just seemed to notice her irritation, while the blue cat opened his mouth and actually spoke.

"Lushhyyyy," he whimpered staring at her in obvious fear. Szayel had to push down his curiosity about the cat in order to listen to Natsu's answer.

Natsu paled, but answered her question, albeit with a bit of a shake in his voice, "Well, since that bastard Jiemma decided to kick Yukino out of Sabertooth after losing one battle, I decided to fight him. Then, if he lost to me, he'd have to kick himself out of his own guild."

"Natsu, what kind of idiot do you have to be to do something so completely stupid," Lucy said, the anger returning to her voice.

"Well, she only lost one fight! And Kagura is insanely strong, easily S-Class. You're super strong, strong enough that you're the only one that can keep Gray, Erza, and I in line on our missions, but that would be like kicking you out for losing to Erza or Laxus!" he exclaimed, anger rising in his voice as well. Szayel unconsciously took a step between Natsu and Lucy, unsure of the object of his anger.

"It's alright, Szayel, he's not mad at me, and he'd never hurt me," she said, putting a hand on his arm, but he refused to move from his position. She sighed, whether at him or Natsu he couldn't tell, but she decided to turn to Natsu.

"Well, at least nothing happened, and we're still in the Games. No more challenging the guild masters of other guilds though! And Gray," she turned her look to the black haired man who was once again fully dressed. Szayel thought that she was going to correct him about taking his clothes off in front of others, apparently unconsciously, but instead, she just sighed, "Don't start fighting Natsu. We need you both in top condition for the competition. Now go to bed, it's technically past curfew for contestants in the Games." They nodded, and although Natsu passed a withering glance towards Szayel, he left without complaint, followed closely by a grumbling Gray, who again began unbuttoning his shirt.

At this point, Lucy turned her face towards Yukino, who Szayel had honestly forgotten was present. She had a look of utter surprise on her face, and then Szayel really thought about what he had learned. He was able to connect the dots fairly quickly, surmising the basic idea of what had happened that day, regarding both Yukino and Natsu. He didn't know what the Grand Magic Games were, but he supposed he could ask her later.

Lucy then turned to look at Szayel, as if realizing he was still there, watching her and Yukino closely, a look of concentration on his face. She smiled at him and then she sent him back to Hueco Mundo, where he immediately sought out Aizen.

When he was summoned in, he looked around to make sure they were alone before addressing Aizen, "Lord Aizen, I have just been summoned by Lucy Heartfilia, and when I asked her who all she had contracted, she said your name." He was hesitant, but the look on Aizen's face assured him he wasn't in any trouble, at least he thought so. Aizen was incredibly difficult, actually impossible, to read when he wanted to be.

Aizen nodded at him, brown eyes boring into gold, as he looked him over, before smiling slightly, "I see. You must have been her first Arrancar. How did she take the news?" he asked the Eighth Espada.

"She seemed to take the news fairly well. Although, I didn't actually show her my hole. Even though she's obviously not from Hueco Mundo, the Soul Society, or the World of the Living, she seemed to grasp the concept of what I told her about Hollows and their transformations, as well as the step to the Arrancar," he said, remembering her blush.

"Did you tell her about our," he paused, as if looking for the proper term, "current situation," he decided on, "with the Soul Society?" he asked, narrowing his eyes upon the Espada.

Szayel, for his part, did not flinch, as he was fairly certain he would be able to give the right answer, "No, I did not inform her of any of the issues within our world."

Aizen nodded, apparently pleased with his answer. Szayel was told to come back to Aizen the following day in the morning, although he was not told reason why, but he promised he would come before returning to his lab to ponder the possibilities of what had happened to him.

He recalled what Natsu had said to Lucy about S-Class. He assumed it meant something similar to the difference between a Fraccion and an Espada. Although, Natsu didn't appear to be putting Lucy down, and he could tell Lucy had a fair amount of power, from what he could gather anyway. Their 'magic energy' seemed to be fairly simple to reiatsu and he was quickly able to figure out how much she had. Although, until he was able to witness some other mages or her in battle, he wouldn't be able to figure out how much she had in comparison to others and what amount of reiatsu equaled what amount of magical energy.

So, Erza and Laxus were apparently fairly strong. He hoped to meet them so that he could gage just how much magic energy was required to be 'S-Class', although he was fairly certain it required more than a strict calculation of magic energy but also how that energy was used and their success rate, but still, he was curious about these two. He was even more intrigued by the fact that Natsu had made it seem like Lucy was the leader in their 'team', even if she didn't have the most power. If nothing else, he would have an interesting time investigating her and her friends, as well as what abilities lie within her world.

...

Okay, I hope you enjoyed chapter four, and I have a few things to address. Like I said in Chapter 1, the whole Eclipse/Dragon Festival part of the GMG will NOT be happening, so I'm editing those parts out of the story, and we'll just continue straight through to more original material after I finish with the GMG which should be another 2 chapters.

So, this may be going a little fast, but that's because it's kinda repeat of the anime with just a few changes, and I don't want to bore you by rewriting each scene in excruciating detail when its not really necessary, that way I can move on to the more original story line that comes right after the GMG.

Also, I really want to stress how important the automatic bond is, and you can see it in this chapter and the next one A LOT. It's really important for future chapters, and you'll see why in a few chapters. It's not as simple as you might think. Gradual bonds are cool, and I really like reading those kinds of stories, but in this case, the immediate bonds are going to be throwing wrenches into literally everybody's plans and it's going to lead to complications that are important to the story.

Finally, I know some people might be disappointed that Yukino doesn't get any keys, but 1. I stressed in earlier chapters the importance of keeping the keys with one key holder. 2. I just don't think Yukino is magically strong enough to pull it off. I think that she treats her spirits well and I absolutely love her as a character, however, aside from the fact that I don't think she'd be magically capable, the fact that Lucy has all the keys is extremely important for the future plot of the story. Like I said before, her having the keys and the immediate bond between key holder and spirit are going to play a major role in messing up everybody's plans.

Anyways, tell me what you think! I absolutely love going through and reading all of your reviews, whether good or bad! Hope you enjoyed it and until next time!


	5. Victory

Chapter 5: Victory

When Szayel returned the next day, he did not expect to see Aizen alone, sitting in front of what appeared to be a glass orb. When he approached his new leader, Aizen merely raised a hand, gesturing him over to sit next to him in the seat provided.

When he did, he looked hesitantly in the glass orb, and what he saw surprised him. There was an image there, of what appeared to be some sort of arena, and he grew even more excited when he heard sound coming from the strange device as well.

"Hello, and welcome to Day 3 of the Grand Magic Games!" somebody yelled, presumably the man that had appeared on the screen. The Grand Magic Games, so he would get to see what it was after all. He sat back and watched in wonder.

"Will all of the guilds please send forward their representative for today's game, which is Pandemonium!" the announced said, and then the audience broke into a roar of applause.

"Did Lucy tell you which guild she was part of?" Aizen asked him.

"No, Lord Aizen," he said, his eyes leaving the screen to look at Aizen, whose eyes were glued to the screen.

"Her guild is Fairy Tail. There are two Fairy Tail teams participating in the events, and she is one of the chosen for Team Fairy Tail A. She fought an opponent on the first day, however, when she was about to deliver the final blow, an outside source interfered and drained her energy, otherwise she would have won. Her guild apparently has some sort of altercation with both the Raventail guild and the Sabertooth guild. Their issue with Raventail is due to familial issues between her guild master and Raventail's guild master. I believe their issue with Sabertooth stems from an altercation between her and Natsu and two of the mages from Team Sabertooth," Aizen said, his eyes never leaving the orb as the contenders slowly walked into the arena. Szayel nodded, accepting the information, before returning his attention to the orb.

"It appears Erza Scarlet has chosen straw number one," the announcer said, "She will be the first to enter Pandemonium." Szayel began to pay closer attention now, as he assumed that this was the Erza that Natsu had mentioned the night before. If Aizen noticed his behavior, he didn't say anything.

He watched in amazement as the woman approached the towering building, stepping in and challenging all 100 monsters, not allowing for those following her to have a chance at the game, before launching into action. She changed her clothing and weapons, almost like a resurreccion, but not quite, and they each had some sort of different ability. He was enthralled by what he was watching. It was a truly impressive display of strength and ability as she took down the last of the monsters. Then, after ending the battle, she said she had taken too long.

It was obvious that the woman had physical prowess and was well versed in the effects of each of her various armors and weapons, as well as how to effectively defeat an enemy using the least amount of energy and time possible. It was quite impressive in Szayel's opinion.

The comment from last night about Lucy being kicked out for losing to Erza also made sense. From what little he knew of magical energy, he could tell that Lucy was quite capable, especially if she was able to call upon a wide range of spirits that allowed for tactical approaches to battles as well as a combination of opportunities to defeat an opponent. However, this Erza also had a similar ability, except instead of 'spirits' it was with weapons and armor. She was quite obviously a combat driven opponent, and even with a wide range of spirits, defeating someone that defined raw power and face to face combat would be difficult.

Aizen was also somewhat impressed by the woman. He knew she was powerful, having actually met her in person, and he had been intrigued by Lucy's comment about the woman and her magic being 'similar' to that of a Zanpakuto. He could certainly see the similarities between the two, although it was clear to him that she had never actually witnessed one of her newest spirits in battle. He supposed that Byakuya or Shuhei would need to show her their Shikai release, as his wasn't the best for teaching, and Yoruichi didn't bother with her zanpakuto at all, instead sticking to Shunpo and Hakuda. She would need to learn about their different abilities soon, as it would be vital for saving her magical energy by picking the correct person to fight with her.

Still, though, this Erza was impressive, incredibly so, and he couldn't help but realize that this world had so many different abilities and magics to offer, which was made even more apparent by the last minute game that was called in response to Erza, for all intents and purposes, ruining the first one.

First was the girl Milliana, who wasn't all that impressive, but she had potential, even if her outfit was… interesting. Nabarly and Hibiki were even less impressive, although he supposed either one of them could possibly have strength that couldn't necessarily be defined by such a machine, although he doubted it. It didn't even seem as if the Raventail candidate tried. The man Orga, with the black lightning, was very impressive, as was Jura. However, the most impressive, and surprising, was the brown haired Fairy Tail mage, Cana Alberona. He hadn't met her yet, but she literally broke this machine. He wasn't sure what kind of magic it was, but it was incredible.

Those in the Soul Society were having similar reactions, and, not surprisingly, both Kenpachi and Ikkaku were anxiously awaiting their chance to fight Erza, Jura, Orga, or even Cana. They watched as the woman who seemed to have an unnatural obsession with cats caught the Quatro "Puppy" contestant in her trap, rather flashily, actually. Even if the fight wasn't necessarily brimming with raw power, it was entertaining to watch at the very least. The next fight, with the snow mage and the blonde haired masked man was interesting as well, especially to Mayuri, who would love to see if that particular ability worked for zanpakuto or kido, and if there was some way he could harness it himself.

It was the next fight, though, that had them all equally confused and sitting at the edge of their seats. Surprisingly, it was Kenpachi who offered the most accurate depiction of what they were thinking.

"This doesn't make sense," he said, quite eloquently.

"Yes, we can see that, Captain Zaraki," Toshiro said, rolling his eyes at the obvious statement.

"No, I mean, most fights I can follow easily. There's a flow to them. The transition from punch to punch, from blow to blow is easily seen. As each person takes a step up, their opponent either comes up to meet them, or they don't and they lose. That's not happening. It's just random. No one's getting better or worse, they're just staying at the same level, and these people aren't showing any special moves or something like the others did. It just doesn't add up, there's probably something else going on," he explained, his attention never truly leaving the fight.

Those soul reapers contracted to Lucy could feel her confusion, as well. They could tell that this wasn't the way Laxus usually fought, or at least they assumed though due to the large amounts of surprise coming from their bond.

Back in Hueco Mundo, Aizen was thinking along the same lines. Besides that, he had met this Laxus Dreyar, and his performance was simply not adding up with the man he had met.

"This is not Laxus Dreyar," he said simply, not really to Szayel, more to himself, but Szayel answered him anyways.

"What do you mean?" he asked, curious as to the meaning of his leaders' words.

"I met Mr. Dreyar, he has far more power than this, besides the flow of this fight is all off, it makes no logical sense," he said. Szayel had noticed the lack of logic behind the tide of the battle, but didn't know much about how magic worked in this world, and had no clue about whether or not a random battle like this was a normality. All he knew was that Lucy was extremely confounded by the happenings in the arena.

And that's when everything came together.

Where there had once been Alexi and Laxus, now the entirety of Raventail lay unconscious on the ground, a very angry looking Laxus glaring down at them, barely a scratch on his body, if there was any at all.

"I-is that Master Ivan?!" the announcer yelled over the crowd's surprised gasps and cheers.

"I think it is, and that's the rest of Raventail behind him. No matter how you look at it, this is a blatant breaking of the rules, Raventail must be disqualified," the second announcer said. Rune Knights were flooding the field, approaching the members of Raventail as Fairy Tail was granted the points for winning the battle.

"I see, it was an illusion, so they do have such magic in their world," Aizen said, wondering how it compares to his own illusions. He wondered if there was a way he could use his zanpakuto to cancel out any other mages' illusions. That was something he would have to look into. Other than that, it appeared he had been right about the blonde haired mage. He was indeed powerful, amazingly so if he could defeat all 5 members of this guild in such a short amount of time, one of them being his father no less. Although, he had to admit, he had no idea how powerful the other members of the guild were.

The final fight was between the two youngest girls. Many of the spectators in the Soul Society appeared to be losing interest in the fight.

"Pay attention, the girl is one of Lucy's friends, which means you should be familiar with her," Byakuya said, disrupting any thoughts some of the rowdier members had of leaving. At least Toshiro was still sitting at attention, understanding the effects having a child's face could have on others' perceptions, and he did not wish to condemn this girl as powerless because of her apparent age, when that very thing so often annoyed him.

Grumbling, Ikkaku and Kenpachi sat back down, while Yumichika merely commented on their cuteness.

The girls fought valiantly to the very last minute, and many of the people in the Soul Society had a new found appreciation for their determination at the very least. It was also obvious that the girls actually had a good deal of power, especially in the healing department. Unohana looked forward to meeting Wendy, she was such a sweet girl and didn't appear to be too keen on fighting.

With that, the third day of the Grand Magic Games drew to a close, and Lucy went on to party with her friends, celebrating their victories that day. Their success was incredible, and they were all ready for the next day, Lucy vowing that she would make a difference tomorrow, deciding to participate in the game of the day.

…

However, in Hueco Mundo, there was an Arrancar that continued to feel Lucy's emotions, and it made little to no sense to him. He blamed Szayel. The scientist had been locked in a room with Aizen for hours, so he had to be behind it somehow, otherwise, why would he be feeling these strange things? And who was this goddamn blonde girl he kept seeing. It was frustrating him so much, and he just wanted to fight something.

…

Day Four of the Grand Magic Games had arrived, and the contestants of the Naval Battle were scattered throughout the ball of water hovering in the air in the arena.

The soul reapers and arrancar watched as Lucy pulled out her first key, making the first move with a very angry blue haired mermaid, with a lot of attitude. She was holding her own against Juvia, the rest of the contestants to scared to attempt to come between the two battling mages, especially since it seemed the blue haired woman, Juvia, seemed to believe the fight was over Gray, no matter how innaccurate that assumption was.

During the stalemate, Aquarius turned around to look at Lucy, saying, "Well, I'm not getting anywhere, so I'm gonna leave now, I have a date with my boyfriend." She disappeared, leaving Lucy to fend for herself against Juvia's powerful oncoming attack. She quickly called out Virgo and Aries, who came to her aid and helped her escape Juvia's misplaced rage.

"Are you serious?! That chick just left Lucy to fend for herself so she could go on a date?!" Shuhei exclaimed in surprise. Several of the soul reapers seemed to find it very amusing, but those contracted to the girl, didn't find it very funny at all. Byakuya and Shuhei glared at the chuckling soul reapers, eerily similar to the glare Yoruichi was sending to the cackling Urahara in the World of the Living. Neither Aizen nor Szayel seemed to be very amused either.

Somehow, the fight came down to Lucy against a woman from Sabertooth named Minerva. The woman took Lucy's keys, which immediately drew the attention of her contracted spirits. They didn't like the fact that their keys were no longer attached to Lucy's person. They immediately tried to go to her, with the exception of Aizen, who had promised not to interfere in the Games, though he had to fight himself to do it. Unfortunately, it seemed as though none of the spirits could get to their mage, who was being brutally beaten.

"Why aren't you going to her, Yoruichi?" Urahara said, seeing the extreme rage on the woman's face, who was now sweating in effort, trying to get to Lucy.

"She's blocking our gates," Yoruichi ground out through clenched teeth.

…

"Who? This Minerva woman? She has the power to do that?" Yamamoto said, back in the Soul Society.

"No." Shuhei said, he, too, sweating in effort, hoping to break down the wall enough to get through.

"Lucy," Byakuya said, struggling as well, although less obviously than Shuhei.

…

"Why is she doing this?!" Szayel said. Aizen had told him that if he couldn't go, then Szayel was to go protect Lucy on his behalf.

"Because, she doesn't want people to know our abilities and search out our keys. It makes sense, but I can not understand why she would block us in this case," he said.

…

In all three places, anticipation and fear was rising as they watched the beating continue. That is, until a bright light caused all of their jaws to drop in surprise, especially when they saw who, or rather what, emerged from the blue light.

…

While her spirits were fighting to break down the wall, Lucy was spending all of her magical energy attempting to build it up. She would take the loss in the battle if it meant her current and future spirits were protected from unworthy keyholders.

"Why are using up so much magical energy? Trying to call on your little pets?" Minerva spat out, taunting her. "I have your keys, its no use." The Fairy Tail members were forced to watch, knowing what she was doing and hoping it turned out for the best. It was painful for them to watch, but somehow they knew it would be even more painful for her spirits, obviously fighting yet unable to get to her.

Then, there was a flash of blue light and their view of what could hardly be called a battle was blocked. Lucy was floating shakily in the water, while there was a very terrifying blue haired man, a piece of bone covering his jaw, his hand on a long sword attached to his hip, while his free hand was wrapped around Minerva's neck.

"Wh-who are you?" Lucy stuttered out.

"What are you talking about?" Minerva wheezed from behind the man's hand. "Isn't he one of your spirits?"

Lucy just continued staring at the blue haired man with wide eyes.

"Listen, I don't know what the HELL is going on here, all I know is that for the last few days, I've been having these annoying ass feelings and visions of that blonde chick over there, and for some goddamn unknown reason, I have an extreme urge to rip your heart out through your chest for hurting her, and then at the same time, I don't want to go that far, because that would upset Jugs over there, and for some other goddamn unknown reason, upsetting Jugs would upset me, so I won't rip your heart out, I'll just rough you up a bit, how's that sou-," he was interrupted by a yell from some pink haired brat in the crowd.

"LUCE!" he yelled, jumping over the balcony. The blue haired man turned around to see the blonde girl falling out of the water, heading straight towards the ground, when another pink haired brat showed up and caught her before impact. He KNEW. He KNEW it had to have something to do with that Szayel bastard.

A blue haired girl and a pink haired girl rushed the field, along with the pink haired boy, a black haired boy, and a red headed woman, forming a protective circle around the blonde, making him growl out. What the hell was that about?

"Grimmjow," Szayel said lowly, "Go back to Hueco Mundo right now and talk to Aizen."

"Hell no, I don't know what the fuck this is, but there's no way in hell am I gonna go tell Ai-" he started, but was interrupted.

"Aizen knows the girl, he knew her before I did, and before you did, he can explain it to you, but get out of here, NOW," Szayel said. Grimmjow nodded, then took a few seconds to try to figure out how to get back to where he came from. When he did, he disappeared in a flash of blue light.

After a heated argument between the members of Fairy Tail, and the members of Sabertooth, minus a very shaken up Minerva, they moved Lucy's unconscious body to a bed in the infirmary. As if on cue, Yoruichi appeared, followed by Shuhei and Byakuya, and finally Aizen and Grimmjow, who seemed much more subdued this time, but still confused and angry.

"What the hell is this, Aizen?" Byakuya ground out. Szayel was surprised, he honestly hadn't suspected that they knew of each other. He knew that Byakuya had been contracted, but he didn't think they knew about Aizen.

"Not now," he answered, his eyes fixed on Lucy.

"OUT OF MY WAY," the old pink haired lady from a few days before appeared next to Lucy's bed.

"We have been here far too many times the past few days," Erza said, wiping her face and turning to look at the two new spirits.

"And who are you two?" she addressed them, eyeing them up and down. They didn't look like the others. Same color scheme as Aizen, but there was obviously something different about them.

"That's Szayel," Natsu said, "But I don't know who the other one is. They smell the same though, kinda weird if you ask me."

Gray hit Natsu over the head, "Stop being rude flame brain, or do you want to start another fight?"

Natsu and Gray started fighting again until Porlyusica shouted at them to shut up, to which they responded in a similar way as they respond to Erza.

"How's Blondie?" Laxus said, Juvia, Gajeel, Cana, and Mira standing behind him.

"She'll be fine, thanks to Wendy and Chelia arriving to help her so quickly, they were able to heal many of the major injuries before they became too serious," Porlyusica answered.

Wendy blushed and said, "It was mainly Chelia."

Erza smiled, "Regardless, you were very useful and you did an excellent job, Wendy." She turned back to Szayel and Grimmjow. "So, you're Szayel, and you are?"

Grimmjow glared at her, grinding out his name from between his teeth.

"It is nice to meet you, Szayel, Grimmjow. My name is Erza Scarlet. I wish I could stop meeting Lucy's spirits in the infirmary, but Grimmjow we owe you for protecting Lucy, thank you," she said, bowing down in thanks.

Gray smiled slightly, "Yea, man, thanks for that, but how did you manage to get past Lucy's walls? Loke said that when Lucy blocks a gate, its pretty much impossible to open the gate from your side."

"There was no wall," Grimmjow said.

"What?" the Fairy Tail mages said.

"There wasn't one," he said again.

Erza turned to Byakuya, "Was there not a wall? If there wasn't one, why was she using so much magic energy?"

"There was a wall," Byakuya said, looking at the blue haired man curiously.

"Grimmjow has not yet been contracted to Lucy," Aizen said simply. "Because of this, she could not block his gate, yet he could still feel her and her pain, and went because the pain was bothering him so much he wanted to stop it."

"My question is when the hell did Bunny get more new spirits?" Gajeel asked.

"Yukino gave them to her," Natsu said, grinning, "Apparently the keys kept burning her when she tried to call them so she gave them to Lucy, but they're different from her Soul Reaper keys. They're something called an Arrancar, and Luce tried explaining it to me earlier today, but I kinda zoned out cause it was really confusing."

"I was listening," Gray said, explaining to the others what an Arrancar was, with Szayel, Grimmjow, and Aizen filling in some missing pieces.

At this point, Lucy woke up, looking around her, "Guys?" she said, looking at her spirits. Then her eyes landed on the mages in the room, "Laxus! Gajeel!" she squeaked, "What are you guys doing here?"

"We came to check up on you Blondie," Laxus said grinning.

"Yea, that was some pretty brutal shit," Gajeel added, "I had to check on my Bunny."

"You ended up getting second place, Lucy, good job," Cana said, reaching over to pat her on the hand.

"That's impressive considering what Minerva was doing to you," Mira said, patting her other hand.

Lucy just nodded absentmindedly, her attention stolen by what she assumed was the Arrancar of the key Yukino had told her not to contract just yet.

"Hello, I'm Lucy Heartfilia. I assume that at this point you have some idea who I am and what I do?" she said, smiling at him from the bed.

He grunted, avoiding eye contact. He knew, Aizen had filled him in on the basics, telling him that he would find out more later, and to contract with the girl and agree to be called any time, orders by God. He didn't really like the idea, but he didn't really dislike it either, which was confusing him. Why the hell did he care about this girl? Why wasn't he fighting this order like he did every other order Aizen had given him? Why the hell did her smile want to make him glow with pride? It was too goddamn confusing.

"Well, would you like to make a contract with me. If you don't I can find a safe place to keep your key so-"

"Sure."

"What?" she asked, shocked. He was avoiding her eyes and seemed highly uncomfortable, so she figured he would be against forming a contract.

"I said, sure," Grimmjow said.

"Oh, okay, that's great. What days are you available? Is there anything important I should know about you?" she said.

"Any day, any time, and no, nothing special," he said, still avoiding eye contact.

"Okay, and what's your name?" she asked.

"Grimmjow Jaegerjaques, Sexta Espada," he said.

"Sexta Espada?" she asked, confused, again.

"Yea, the Sixth Espada," he answered her.

"What's an Espada?"

"It's a rank. The most powerful of the Arrancar are ranked 1-10, 1 being the most powerful, and 10 being the least. Grimmjow is number 6 and Szayel is number 8," Aizen said.

"How many Arrancar are there?" Mira asked, curious.

"Many," was all he said, eyes on Byakuya. Lucy looked between her spirits. Again, she noticed something odd, some tension between them, but, again, it was not her place to get involved. If they wished to inform her, they could, otherwise, she needed to stay out of it.

She coughed, drawing everyon'e attention to herself, "Well, um, Grimmjow, it's a pleasure to meet you, and I hope we work well together. Thank you for helping me." He nodded at her and the tension in the room fled.

Then, a little old man walked in, "Hello, my child, how are you feeling?"

"I'm feeling a lot better, thank you Master Makarov. I hope that I didn't mess up our chances," she said, looking down, ashamed, again, at her performance.

"Of course not, my child, you fought well and I am proud of you. I am here to tell you guys that they are making us reduce our two teams into one, and we are going to have to take the lower of our two scores," he said, looking at everyone.

…

The souls had returned to their respective homes, watching from their lacrima screens as the final Team Fairy Tail was announced.

They weren't sure what to think, they hadn't really seen any of them fight, only Erza. Gray had been unfairly targeted on the first day, Laxus's fight had been an illusion, Gajeel and Natsu had only had their pitiful participation in the Chariot game, and Erza was the final one, the only person they had seen fight. They suspected that if these were the people chosen to fight as representative of the guild, they must be pretty impressive.

They watched the tag team battles commence and were surprised at some of the team work. It wasn't really a tactic they used in the Soul Society. Battles were usually fought one on one, as was the style of most sword play, but it seemed it was something they could work on if what they were seeing was any indication.

Then, it was Natsu and Gajeel's turn. It was easy to see that the two were neither comfortable nor happy with working with each other, but they still managed to fight together, even fighting with each other. It seemed as if the two sides could continuously ramp up their power. First Natsu and Gajeel had control of the fight, pushing Sting and Rogue, whom most of Lucy's spirits had met and had less than fond opinions of. Yoruichi was openly rooting for Natsu and Gajeel when she saw Sting, not liking the way he had been looking at Lucy when she had first met him. Shuhei had a similar reaction, and so did Byakuya and Aizen, although with less obviousness.

Then, though, Rogue and Sting took control of the fight, using some kind of power up, but soon enough, Gajeel and Natsu were able to meet them blow for blow once again and retake control over the fight. For awhile, it looked like Rogue and Sting had won, but then Natsu and Gajeel pulled themselves out of the rubble, grinning and spouting off, arguing with each other, and ending with Gajeel being thrown into a cart and taken away from the fighting. Natsu picked up where he had left off, meeting the other two dragon slayers blow for blow, and his final attack left several in the Soul Society staring, including Kenpachi and Ikkaku who were raring to go for another fight.

With that, the day ended with Fairy Tail in the lead by a solitary point, and everyone was brought back to the day Gajeel told them not to scoff at one point.

…

Finally it was the last day of the Grand Magic Games. Makarov had to decided to have Juvia step in for Natsu, who had pouted but agreed when Makarov told him it was so he could be with Lucy, especially since everyone seemed to want a piece of her.

The fights were strong, with Gray defeating Rufus, and with style too. No one could deny how handsome he looked with that hat on his head. Szayel was brought back to when he had first met Gray, and he now realized that perhaps his stripping was a regular occurrence.

The souls all found out a little more about Erza, as she fought for both Lucy and Kagura's sake against Minerva, and had her begging for forgiveness and mercy by the end of the battle, which she, of course, didn't grant.

Laxus faced off against the strongest human wizard saint, which, although the souls weren't exactly sure what that was, seemed like a pretty impressive title, and so were surprised, yet not so surprised given his battle on day 3, when Laxus won a resounding victory.

Gajeel faced off against Rogue, one on one this time, and they were all able to see the adaptability of mages. They learned a little about his past, although not much, and then Rogue seemed to take off in full power. Gajeel, though, simply swallowed his magic, literally, and shot it right back at him. Needless to say, Kenpachi and Ikkaku were again ready for a fight, against all of them, apparently.

Finally Juvia and Gray combined their powers to take out Lyon and Chelia, which was something none of them had ever imagined before. A unison raid, the combination of more than one person's power into a single attack, it was pretty impressive, especially to Mayuri, who wanted to study such a thing up close.

Finally, the five approached Sting, who, against all odds, forfeited upon seeing the powerful mages standing before him with such determination and was left in awe at their ability. He admitted to being worried about his cat friend Lector, who appeared in the arms of the cat like woman, Milliana.

With that, Fairy Tail secured their victory of the Grand Magic Games.

...

So I think I mentioned it earlier, but I will not be covering the dragons in this story. I just adjusted some of the happenings so that I could get the Grand Magic Games done and move on to the next part, which will slow down the story a little bit. The reason it mgith feel like its happening really fast is because everyone probably already knows what happened and i don't want to spend my time rewriting scenes that you already know. So, now we can get on to the good stuff that has a bit more to do with Lucy and her new spirits :) Hope you enjoyed the chapter, sorry for such a long wait, and please like and review!


	6. Special Requests

Sorry this update took so long! If you've been keeping up with my other stories or read my profile, you'd know that I lost a lot of motivation to write and was also met with a very serious case of writer's block. However, that's over now (hopefully), and updates will ideally be more often. Thank you for all the reviews and pms about this story, it means a lot to me that so many of you care and have stuck with the story. Anyways, here's chapter 6, the chapter is longer than my previous chapters, and this will probably be the size of the chapters in the future as well, is my goal. Anyways, thank you for supporting me and this story, hopefully updates will be more regular, however, I am in school, and while I do have a system worked out to make sure I'm able to continue writing regularly, sometimes I may need to put my writing away to focus on school, so I hope you understand. Anyways, without further ado, Chapter 6 :)

 **Chapter 6: Special Requests**

When they had returned to Fairy Tail, there was a parade waiting to welcome them home. Fairy Tail was happy to be back in power, the strongest guild in Fiore, and what better way to celebrate than to throw a huge party?

The party was in full swing, complete with drinking and fights, when Makarov suggested that Lucy invite her new spirits to the party.

"After all, it seems some of them only ever get to see you when you're about to die, this will be a good way to introduce them to the guild and to talk to them away from potential danger… well other than the random projectiles flying across the room…" Makarov smiled, blushing in his drunkenness.

Despite how drunk he was, Lucy actually wasn't opposed to the idea, she had a general idea about her spirits' personalities, but she really should get to know them better. So she rested her hands across her newer keys and invited them out, asking if they wanted to join in the celebration and get to know her and the guild, of course leaving out just how… lively the guild could get at a party.

Soon there were several flashes of light signaling the arrival of her spirits, all of which came to see her. They were all happy to be able to see her away from the dangers of monsters and the Grand Magic Games, and this would be a good way to familiarize themselves with the various members of her guild, so that they didn't mistake them for a threat while in the heat of battle.

"Hi guys! So as you can tell, the guild is in the middle of partying, so just let loose and have some fun!" Lucy smiled at them, happy that the fighting had died down at that particular moment.

"Lucy, if you don't mind my asking, I actually have some questions about the Grand Magic Games and your guild members and their abilities," Szayel said with stars in his eyes, excited about learning more about these new abilities.

"Sure, go ahead and ask whatever you wish," Lucy smiled at him.

"Okay, first, what are dragon slayers? I was watching Natsu and Gajeel fighting with those two men from Sabertooth, and the abilities the four of them displayed were breathtaking, and the flow of the fight was so smooth, each group just continued to grow stronger with each blow it seemed, is that an inherent part of their nature, or is that more of something unique to them?"

"Well, dragon slayer magic is a form of lost magic, you see," she began, and then went into some of the details of how dragon slayer magic worked, all of her spirits listening intently to her words. She talked about a wide range of magics of the people in her guild and all about the magic types and how they're used, but something she had said at the beginning caused Szayel to ask another question almost 2 hours later.

"So earlier, you said some dragon slayers are raised by dragons, you mean dragons actually EXIST?! They're real, please tell me you know where they are! I'd love to be able to meet one and do some r-" he was cut off by Lucy quickly putting her hand over his mouth, her eyes on the little blue haired girl in the corner who was laughing happily with her little white cat. Lucy looked relieved before responding.

"No, I'm afraid no one knows where the dragons are, they disappeared years ago, and I'm afraid it would be best to stray from this conversation while Natsu and Gajeel are both drunk… They reacted to the disappearance in different ways, and you've been fortunate enough not to witness a guild fight yet," Lucy said, trying to divert their attention, however it looked like Lucy had spoken too soon.

"WHAT DID YOU SAY FLAME BRAIN?!" Gray yelled, already taking off his shirt, which Juvia dutifully collected before it hit the ground.

"YOU HEARD ME STRIPPER!" Natsu yelled, his fists bursting into flames as he got into Gray's face.

A frosty fist collided with Natsu's head sending him flying across the room, only to be caught and thrown in another direction by Gajeel's iron covered hands.

"YO WATCH WEAR YOU'RE THROWIN SHIT ICE PRINCESS," Gajeel yelled towards Gray, not paying attention to where he had thrown the flaming man.

"You… made me… drop… my CAKE," Erza exploded, standing up and turning towards the two black haired mages, throwing Natsu back at them, before running in to join on the already explosive fight, as somewhere in the meantime, Elfman and Bickslow had gotten involved, leading to more and more guild members joining in the fray.

"Ahhh… good ol' Fairy Tail," Cana said, laughing while she chugged down another barrel of alcohol.

"I'm sorry, is this… normal?" Byakuya asked, with a hint of disgust in his voice, it reminded him vaguely of the 11th Division.

"What are you talking about? Of course it is, Fairy Tail wouldn't be Fairy Tail without its bar fights, feel free to join in if you wish, they won't mind, and none of the injuries are ever long term," Mira said, smiling. Grimmjow and Yoruichi quickly jumped into the fray, battling it out with the mages.

"How do they manage to make sure that none of the injuries are fatal, they seem to throw all logic to the wind when fighting," Aizen said, for once agreeing with the stoic Captain.

"Because if they don't, they have to answer to me," Mira said, again smiling, this time just a bit more bitter sweet, "And the bar area is safe, they all know better than to hurt my precious bar."

However, it seemed that Fairy Tail's celebrations were even more in the swing of things due to their win at the Grand Magic Games as a table came straight towards the bar, well more specifically straight towards Lucy, who looked frozen on the spot, more worried about Mira's revenge than her own safety. Just as one of her spirits was about to step in, a beam of lightning hit the table, shattering it and causing it to fall to floor a mere foot in front of Lucy.

"Watch where you're throwing shit!" Laxus growled out as he approached the bar, looking for another beer from Mira.

The fight paused for a moment as everybody, with the exclusion of Grimmjow and Yoruichi, who didn't know what was going on, shivered as they thought of the bullet they had just dodged, before they continued with their brawl.

"You okay, Blondie?" Laxus asked, looking down at the Celestial mage.

"Yea, I'm alright, and you're blonde too, you know?" Lucy huffed out, pouting and crossing her arms in front of her chest.

Laxus let out a small chuckle before receiving his beer from Mira. He was about to go back to his table on the second floor when he remembered something, "Oh yeah, Blondie, Gramps told me that after the Grand Magic Games, apparently the guilds receive a lot special requests for specific members, sometimes for pretty stupid tasks just so they can meet the mages they saw on tv. He thinks your team is gonna get called on quite a bit so he wants you to prepare for that. Tell the idiot crew too for me, will ya?"

"Yea, sure, I'll let them know," Lucy said, smiling.

"Good," he said, before he headed back to his area.

"Are you particularly close with him," Szayel asked, his tone slightly colder than usual.

"Hmm... I don't know if I'd say that, he's just reaching out, because he's the future guild master, considering he's Master's grandson, and I'm probably the easiest person to talk to on my team and he knows I'll get the message to all of them," Lucy said.

"You seem to trust him quite a bit," Shuhei said, his tone was also slightly harder as his eyes stayed trained on the dragon slayer, who was hearing everything being said, although they didn't realize it, as his head was tilted back and his eyes were closed as he leaned against the back of his chair.

"Well of course, I trust everybody in Fairy Tail, and besides that, he's the future guild master, and he has helped me a few times," Lucy said, "He's a good friend, just like anyone in the guild."

"I see," Aizen said, eyes trained on the man. Byakuya nodded in response. None of them were particularly thrilled with the guy, or trusted him, and they didn't understand those feelings. On Aizen's part, and even Szayel and Byakuya to an extent, they were reluctant to trust others in general, especially those they didn't know, but they acknowledged that at least a part of it was related to their ties with the celestial mage, and it was slightly confusing to them, but it didn't make the feeling go away.

"Hey Bunny," Gajeel said, approaching Lucy. "Mira, can I get some metal?"

"Taking a break from the fight?" Lucy asked, turning to face the slayer. Szayel's face was still hard as he watched their interaction, but his eyes sparked with curiosity at the chance to see a dragon slayer ingest his element, especially an element such as metal. He looked forward to when he could see Natsu eat fire and Laxus eat lightning, and a part of him wanted to meet the poison slayer he had heard about and investigate him, as he seemed extremely interesting, for many different reasons.

"Yea, I guess you could say that, but honestly, I'm just hungry," Gajeel laughed, letting out his signature, "Gihi."

"You dragon slayers and your appetites," she said as he watched him begin filling his mouth with the metal set before him, rolling her eyes.

He just smirked at her before finishing off the plate and returning to the fight. Again, her spirits watched her interactions with the man and noticed how comfortable she was. She seemed to be on good terms with everyone in the guild, which was strange to them. In the Soul Society and in Hueco Mundo, they worked together, but hardly any of them got along with one another.

However, things were different here, they were beginning to see.

~.~.~

The next day, the members of Fairy Tail were nursing their hangovers at the guild, and drinking Mira's disgusting hangover concoction when the first of the special requests came in. One by one, each of the Fairy Tail mages that were in the Games were called away to take care of some special request.

Lucy sighed as she sat at the guild, she shouldn't be too surprised she hadn't gotten called in yet, after all, it's not as if her display at the Games was particularly spectacular. She was sipping on her strawberry milkshake when Laxus approached her.

"Come on Blondie, we got a mission to do," he said.

"We? Mission?" Lucy said, blinking several times as she tried to make sense of what he said.

"Some couple needs help with a monster destroying their land, well not really their land, but the forests near their land, and they're scared that it's going to extend into their land, so they want us to take care of it before that happens," Laxus said.

"But... why us?" Lucy asked.

"Technically the request only asked for you, but the Magic Council decided it was S-Class and since all the other S-Class mages are out of town, and it's kind of an urgent situation, Gramps told me to go with you on this one," Laxus said.

"Okay... but why me?" Lucy asked, still confused. Again, she hadn't performed well at the Grand Magic Games, so it's not like they could expect much from her.

"Because, everyone knows that you were cheated during the Games, Flare cheated with you during your fight with her, and Minerva cheated by taking your keys, anyone could see it, so stop beating yourself up over what happened at the Games and let's get going," Laxus said, "And if you're still not sure, then you should know that there's a mysterious white key as part of the reward, as well as a decent amount of jewels, enough to cover your rent for the next couple of months."

"I'm there," Lucy said, immediately getting up to go to her house and pack. She had her new spirits, plus she had Laxus, so she was sure that everything would be fine, plus the prospect of a new key AND rent money was enough to get her going.

"Pack for a couple of weeks, Gramps thinks the forest we're going to will be a good place to train once we're done. He knows you haven't had a chance to really practice with your new keys, so he figured that now would be a good time, he'll call us back if we're absolutely needed for a mission, but he wants to give me a few weeks to help you train," Laxus said.

"You... you're gonna train me," Lucy said, suddenly nervous. She didn't think she was strong enough to warrant help from him. Yea, she had her new keys, but she still didn't think that she was all that powerful.

"Hey, you'll do great, now stop worrying and go get packed, I'll meet you at the train station in an hour," he said, smirking down at her before he walked away.

The entire trip to her house, the time she spent packing, and her walk to the train station after she had given her luggage to Virgo to store had been spent thinking about how on earth she was going to be able to train with someone as powerful as Laxus.

"Hey Blondie, here's your ticket," Laxus said, handing the slip of paper over to her.

When they had settled down in a private booth on the train, Laxus said. "So I'm not entirely sure how training is going to work yet, but the first day or two is probably gonna be spent just with you calling out your new spirits and figuring out what it is they can do, then I'll figure out something to help you with getting used to fighting with them. Also, I know your magic requires a lot of magical energu, so I've got some exercises you can do to increase your magic energy that you can do."

"I already have a few, Capricorn gave them to me, and I do them every morning when I wake up and every night when I go to bed," Lucy said.

"That's good, I'd be willing to bet you already have a decent amount of pure magic energy, so we'll focus more on your physical training with me, and you can do your magic exercises on your own like you've been doing. I'll let you know what mine are, and you can tell me what yours are, and we can figure out what the best ones are," Laxus said. "Now, about the mission."

"Yes, what exactly is it that we have to do?" Lucy asked.

"Well, like I said before, we have to defeat a monster, although the couple aren't actually sure what the monster is, just that it eats a lot of the forest animals and destroys a lot of the forest every time it eats," Laxus said. "The forest is pretty big, so we'll have to ask about the places the monster is focusing when we meet the couple."

"Okay, sounds good," Lucy said. It was then that she noticed that Laxus looked a little green, "Um... Laxus, if you want to just sleep the rest of the train ride you can. I'll be fine, and you look like you're gonna be sick."

"I don't know what you're talking about Blondie," Laxus said.

"Of course, but still, you must be tired after how much you had to drink last night, and we need to look our best when we meet the clients, so go on and sleep a little bit, I'll call out Plue to keep me company," Lucy said, a smile on her face.

Laxus grudgingly decided to listen to her advice and settled down to sleep. The rest of the train ride was spent with Lucy playing with Plue and Laxus sleeping.

When they arrived at their destination, they made their way to the house of the couple who sent the request.

"Oh you're here! Thank goodness," the little old woman said, "We've been worried about this for a while, and oh you brought the lightning mage too."

"Yes, the Magic Council decided that this request qualified as S-Class, so I needed an S-Class mage to come with me," Lucy smiled at the woman.

"That's fine, dear. I'm so happy you could come, when I saw you with your black and white keys at the Grand Magic Games, I just knew that I had to make this request especially for you," the woman said. "I've had this key for ages and I just haven't known what to do with it, although, I guess I'm supposed to give it to you after the request is completed, but here."

The woman pulled out a white key, the end of which was shaped like a wolf and the teeth of which was shaped like a gun.

"Thank you, ma'am, now we just have a few questions before we head into the forest to complete the request. First, do you have any clue as to what type of monster is in the forest?" Lucy asked.

"I'm afraid not, we've never caught a glimpse of it, and part of me is happy about that. I don't know what would happen to us if we came face to face with it," the woman said.

"Okay, and do you have an idea of possibly where the monster could be within the forest?" Lucy asked.

"Hmmm... the most extensive damage is near the lake, which is the only large source of water for a while, so I'd guess that it's at least somewhere near there," the woman explained.

"Perfect," Laxus said, "Do you think you could tell us how to get to the lake?"

"Yes," the woman said, and she gave them directions to the lake.

Lucy and Laxus then began making their way to the lake. Lucy decided to wait until after she completed the mission before calling the new key, as, depending on how much the person connected to the key knew about the situation, it might take some time. Also, she didn't feel right accepting it as a reward before she had completed the mission.

When they were reaching the lake, they saw it. It was a huge serpentine monster with five heads. Lucy gasped, "It's a hydra."

They stopped in the forest, staying hidden behind some trees to come up with a plan.

"Hydras are tricky because of how they grow their heads everytime you cut one off," Laxus said. "Killing them is difficult because you need to completely pierce through their skin, which is incredibly thick."

"Yea, we need to try to avoid cutting off any of the heads," Lucy nodded, "Do you know how lightning affects hydras?"

"Yea, it can make them disoriented, but its not ideal for killing it, the final blow will probably come down to you, you're going to have to somehow break through its skin," Laxus said, "I know you don't know your new spirits too well, but they all have swords, do you think any of them could possibly help you here?"

"Hmm, I haven't actually seen many of them fight, but... I suppose I could call on one of them," Lucy said.

"What about that blue haired one, he seemed pretty strong, and blood thirsty," Laxus said, "In this case, that kind of power would be helpful."

"Yea, okay, that makes sense, give me a minute," Lucy said. "Open, Gate of the Arrancar: Grimmjow!"

Said man appeared before them, looking annoyed and bored, "What do you want woman?"

"We need your help to defeat the monster over there," Lucy said. "Here's what's gonna happen, I'll use my whip to hold it's heads, or as many as I can, in place. Then Laxus will blast it with some lightning and you can give the final blow. Do you think your sword is strong enough to cut through its skin?"

"Of course," Grimmjow growled. He wasn't too happy about being at her beck and call, just like Aizen, but at least he would get a good fight out of it. Besides, he didn't hate this woman as much as he thought he would.

"Okay, then let's get going," Laxus said. Grimmjow glared at him, he didn't like this blonde brute already, and he didn't even know who he was.

The three went out to the hydra, which immediately looked over at them, its multiple eyes narrowing at their approach. Lucy took out her whip and, filling it with her magical energy, she flung it towards the hydra, wrapping it around 3 of the 5 heads and pulling it down, causing it to head but into the ground.

Laxus sent a huge bolt of lightning towards it, causing it to seize against the ground and temporarily distracting the heads as they turned in the direction of the lightning mage. That was when Grimmjow headed straight for the belly of the beast, pulling out his Pantera and going to slash open it's chest.

However that was then they realized there wasn't a single hydra. Lucy watched in horror as a second beast came from the forest straight towards her. Her hands were occupied keeping the head of the current hydra down, so she couldn't use her whip or call out another spirit. Grimmjow was still mid swing with the first hydra, and Laxus was holding off the two free heads of it.

Just as two of the second hydras five heads came crashing down towards her there was a flash of blue before her, and all she heard was, "Cero."

A burst of bright blue energy erupted from the man, and little girl, standing in front of Lucy, completely demolishing the hydra in front of her, just as Grimmjow sliced open the hydra's chest, and Laxus produced one final bolt of lightning straight to the heart of the hydra, killing it.

Grimmjow turned to look at the newcomers, "Well, look who's joined the game."

"Grimmjow... what the hell is going on?" Starrk said, surveying the girl standing behind him, as well as the man and watching as Grimmjow quickly cleaned his sword on the grass before sheathing it.

"You've been summoned," Grimmjow said. "Just say yes to whatever the girl wants, Aizen will explain it all to you later."

"Aizen?" Starrk asked, slightly apprehensive. He didn't know why, but he didn't want Aizen knowing about the girl, he would surely kill her, and while he wasn't sure why he didn't want that to happen, he knew that he didn't.

"Why the hell would we just agree to anything she says anyways?!" the little girl yelled out.

"Because, kid, that's what Aizen told me to do when I first got summoned, and I'm assuming that's what he did when he first got summoned," Grimmjow said.

Lucy and Laxus were just watching, confused, until Lucy decided to speak up, "Um... perhaps I should explain the situation. I don't like my spirits just agreeing to something when they don't actually know... and if what you say is true Grimmjow, then maybe we need to renegotiate our contract as well. Your contract with me is your choice, not anyone else's and if you decide you don't want to be part of it, I'll hold onto your key for safe-keeping, but I won't expect anything from you."

She then explained about who she was and the keys, and they're connection to each other and how it worked. Starrk listened intently, while Grimmjow only half-listened, he already knew most of it anyways. Besides, it's not as if he really had the choice, even if the blonde was saying he did.

"And you have a contract with Sosuke Aizen?" Starrk asked, and, when she nodded, he asked, "And he's okay with it?"

"Well of course, I never force spirits to do anything against their will," Lucy said. "It's part of my honor as a Celestial mage."

"I see... if that's the case, my name is Coyote Starrk, but you can just call me Starrk, and this is Lilinette, we are the First Espadas, then you can call me whenever you wish," Starrk said, hushing Lilinette's half energy arguments. He could tell that the little girl wanted the contract as well.

"Okay, I have a question though... what is it that you used just now?" Lucy asked, still confused over what she had seen.

"You really know nothing about us, do you?" Grimmjow asked, barking out a laugh.

"Umm... not really, I haven't had a chance to really train with any of you yet or figure out your abilities, ever since I started finding your keys, it's as if everything just came crashing down and I was so busy I never actually got to find anything out," Lucy said.

"But that's going to change," Laxus said, smirking down at the girl. He wrapped an arm around her shoulder as he continued, "For the next couple of weeks, Blondie and I are gonna be training together, so be ready for that. She'll get the chance to learn about your abilities, and such, and you guys will learn how you work together, which, from what I understand, is an important part of celestial magic."

Starrk and Grimmjow both let out a low growl and narrowed their eyes at him as he wrapped his arm around Lucy, and even Lilinette glared in his direction, but if he noticed, he didn't say.

"Yes it is. Many celestial mages use their spirits as shields or weapons and don't actually help them or work with them, but that's not the way it's supposed to work. They're supposed to work as a team, as partners," Lucy said, smiling, "Thank you for acknowledging that."

"Yea, yea, Blondie, the point is, I guess this conversation about that beam Starrk just did can wait. We need to go get our reward and find a place to stay for the next few weeks. We're gonna be camping out using the equipment we packed so we need to find a clearing or something to set up," Laxus said.

The three arrancar glowered at the thought that Lucy would be with the man for several weeks alone, but at least they would most likely get to see her.

"Oh, of course, it was nice seeing you again Grimmjow. Also, Starrk, are you and Lilinette connected in some way? Will the two of you always come together?" Lucy asked.

"Probably, I'm not sure how this magic works, but we're kinda the same person... it's hard to explain, but I guess it can wait until next time," Starrk said.

"Okay, it was nice meeting you both then. Oh! And before I forget, this is Laxus Dreyar, he's a lightning dragon slayer, not that you know what that is, but you'll probably get to know over the next few weeks, and can you tell Aizen and Szayel about the training. If they have any times they can't be called over the next few weeks, they can let me know," Lucy smiled.

They nodded at Laxus upon the introduction, although they were still stiff at the sight of his arm around the girl, and then nodded at Lucy before returning to Hueco Mundo.

They went back to the couple's house and were able to receive the rest of their reward, as well as a tearful thanks from the elderly couple before they went back into the woods. They found a clearing where they were able to set up camp, with the help of Virgo.

When she was done, there was a tent set up with two wool mattresses, made by Aries, with their sleeping bags rolled up. There was also a pit made for a fire as well as stacks of firewood, cut by Laxus. Lucy was cooking some meat over a fire as they prepared for the end of the day, seeing as the sun was already setting.

"Okay, Blondie," Laxus said as they ate, "Tomorrow morning, we'll get up and talk about some magic exercises for you, and while you do those, I'll solidify our plans for the rest of the day."

"Okay, sounds good to me," Lucy said, smiling.

When they were finished eating, they went to sleep.

~.~.~

The next day, Lucy and Laxus woke up at dawn, ate some food made for them by Virgo, and Lucy and Laxus began discussing magic exercises.

Lucy created as many spheres of pure magic energy and held them for as long as possible. Laxus said that it was a good start but that she should try to move the spheres as well, perhaps in a circle around her. As Lucy set to her task, which was to continue for an hour, Laxus thought about her spirits. He decided that she should start from the top, with the first new spirit she had contracted and work with him until she felt comfortable and then move on to the next one.

As far as he knew, she had 7 keys, and they were here for 2-3 weeks. She could spend 2-3 days with each of her new spirits. The first day talking with them and going through their abilities, their strengths and weaknesses and simply getting to know them better. Then the next day or two could be spent sparring with him to get them at a point where they feel comfortable fighting together.

As for the rest of the day, as he planned on allowing her 3-4 hours working on that part of her abilities, he could work with her on endurance and strength training, and hand to hand combat, as well as working with her whip.

When Lucy was done with her magic training, Laxus explained to her what he had planned, and told Lucy to call out the first of her new spirits.

Lucy called out Byakuya and explained to him that she would be training over the next few weeks and to let the others know, to which he said he would.

"Okay, so what do I need to know about your abilities, I'm afraid I really don't know much in terms of what you can do," Lucy said. Laxus was sitting off to the side, watching silently.

Byakuya smiled gently at her, "Yes, we haven't had much opportunity to see each other unless you're in danger, unfortunately. Hopefully from now on you'll be able to call me whenever you need help."

He then explained the four basic Shinigami techniques: Zanjutsu, the skill of the sword, Hakuda, hand to hand combat, Hoho, also called Shunpo, their special speed step, and Kido, their spells. He then explained that there are three ability levels for each technique: master, expert, and combatant/practitioner.

He then explained about zanpakuto's and their individual uniqueness and that each Shinigami had three obtainable levels of power: basic swordplay using their zanpakuto, their Shikai release, and their Bankai release.

"All of what I have just told you will apply to every Shinigami, however, each Shinigami will be at different levels of each of the four techniques, and each Shinigami's zanpakuto has a unique Shikai form and a unique Bankai form, however, not everyone has a Bankai release. All captain level Shinigami have Bankais, with the exception of Kenpachi Zaraki, however, he's a special case," Byakuya explained.

"That will be what helps me decide who to call during a situation, what each of their ability levels are for each technique and what their Shikai and Bankai forms look like," Lucy said, "So, what is your Shikai and your Bankai form, and what are your ability levels for the four techniques?"

"My zanpakuto's name is Senbonzakura, and my Shikai release is Shatter, in which my zanpakuto separates into thousands of blade fragments which I can control. My Bankai, Senbonzakura Kageyoshi, is the same as my Shikai but on a much larger scale," he said. "I am a Shunpo Master, a Kido Master, and a Hakuda combatant."

"Hmm... I see, well, I look forward to working with you tomorrow and seeing your releases, this should be interesting," Lucy said, "But I'll let you get back to your Spirit World now, I'm sure a captain like you has quite a bit of work to do."

"I will see you tomorrow, Lucy," he said, smiling, before returning to the Soul Society and the dreaded captain meeting he would be forced to attend.

"That's pretty interesting, seems like they're all pretty versatile, and I've never heard of an ability like his before," Laxus said. "That'll be interesting to see, plus their spells too, will be cool to see."

"Now remember, don't hurt them too bad, they're not like normal spirits, and this is sparring, not all out battle," Lucy said, crossing her arms as she looked at Laxus.

"Don't worry, Blondie, I won't do anything to extreme, I wasn't planning on it anyways, this is just to get you used to fighting with them," he said, "Now, we have some exercises you need to do and then I'll help you with some hand to hand things."

The next few days went by in a flash, as she learned more about Shinigami and practiced with each of them to get a feel for them, as well as her quick improvements in other areas as well. Just calling out each of them for hours and practicing with them, combined with her daily magic energy exercises were improving her control over her magical energy and over her magical power in general.

She was also quick on her feet, as Laxus pointed out on the first day of her lessons in hand to hand combat.

"You're advantage in hand to hand combat is actually going to be your size, you're small and quick, so you'll be a hard target to actually hit. Add to that the fact that you're incredibly flexible, and you'll be able to dodge fairly easily if you hone in on that. Maybe when you get back, I'll ask Bickslow to help you with that," Laxus told her.

She learned about how the Shinigami's abilities actually worked, and got to see some of it in action. So far, she had met with Aizen, who had a rather interesting Shikai, and with Yoruichi, who didn't use her zanpakuto at all, but rather fought with stealth and speed in hand to hand combat. She had finished her first day with Shuhei and her and Laxus were lying in the tent, asleep.

However, Lucy's dream wasn't a good dream. It didn't even really feel like a dream, it felt like she was watching something take place from the eyes of someone else. She was fighting someone, and from the looks of it, she was fighting an arrancar. He was huge and had a long ponytail down his back. From the looks of it, she was injured and continuing to try to fight the man.

Lucy burst straight up when she realized who's fight she was experiencing, startling Laxus out of his sleep too. He turned to her, grabbing her shoulder to make sure she was okay, but she was distracted. She turned to her keys and saw that Yoruichi's key was glowing a bright white. She reached out to touch the key, and then everything was spinning.

When she landed on the ground, she was standing in front of the Arrancar, and so was Laxus, and Yoruichi was staring at her shocked, along with the arrancar, another arrancar, a man with bright orange hair who appeared to be unconscious, and another man wearing a hat and clogs.

"Who the hell are you?" the first arrancar asked.

She ignored him, though, instead turning to look at Yoruichi, who wasn't looking the best, "Yoruichi, are you okay?"

"Yes, I'm fine, but... what are you doing here? You shouldn't be here," Yoruichi answered her.

Lucy said, "I was asleep, but I was dreaming your fight... When I touched your key, I was here, and now I know, I have to help you."

"I'm sorry, but who are you?" Ulquiorra asked.

"That doesn't matter," Lucy said. She didn't know who they were, and these arrancar certainly weren't under the same rules as the ones contracted to her and felt no obligation towards her at all. She knew there were some tensions among her spirits that she didn't understand, and she wasn't going to be stupid enough to reveal her connection to anyone or who she was until she more fully understood what was going on.

"We're just here to help out a friend," Laxus said, smirking, catching on that Lucy didn't want to reveal who they were, "So, which one of you wants to take me on?"

The larger arrancar went to attack Laxus, but he quickly moved out of the way, turning into his lightning form, then sent an attack towards the arrancar. The other arrancar simply watched, although, he didn't allow any of his amazement or confusion show on his face.

"Lightning Dragon's Roar," Laxus yelled from the air, and a giant bolt of lightning shot straight from his mouth at Yammy, who was too slow to dodge it and was hit straight on with the attack.

"My turn," said Lucy, "Open: Gate of the Golden Bull: Taurus!"

Taurus appeared, out of nowhere the onlookers realized, and took his hammer straight to Yammy, who was too confused by the situation and dazed from Laxus's attack to block it. The axe hit home, slashing him across the chest, much to the two arrancars' surprise.

Yammy was about to launch a counter attack when the other arrancar stepped in, telling his companion to step down and return to Hueco Mundo. The first arrancar stopped fighting and grudgingly left with the other arrancar, while Lucy went over to Yoruichi.

She quickly called out Gemini, having them change into Wendy and do a quick survey of her wounds and healing the worst of them as much as possible.

The other man just watched, not saying anything, and Lucy and Laxus, not seeing him as a threat, focused on Yoruichi.

"How are you here?" Yoruichi asked.

"I'm not sure... but I'm sure it has something to do with the bond," Lucy said, her brows furrowing.

"You need to get back to your world, we can talk about this later," Yoruichi said, scared that Lucy would get involved in the politics of the Soul Society.

"Okay," Lucy said, understanding that there was something she was missing. She had already known, but still, it was up to them to tell her, she wouldn't assert her authority over them like that.

It took Lucy a minute to figure it out, but eventually, she was able to take her and Laxus back to their camp in Earthland.

"What the hell just happened?" Laxus asked.

"I'm assuming that the bond works both ways, when I'm in danger they sense it and come to me, and when they're in danger, I can sense it and come to them," Lucy said. It would have to be something she looked into later.

~.~.~

Ulquiorra returned to Hueco Mundo with Yammy and his severed arm, and immediately sent Yammy to the infirmary to get treated, as there was a chance that his arm was salvageable.

"Ah... Ulquiorra, how was your visit to the land of the living?" asked Aizen.

"It didn't go as expected, sir," Ulquiorra said.

"Explain," Aizen said, he mood dwindling. He was finally getting his plan moving again not that some of his Arrancar had been called and he felt that Lucy was safe and that he could focus on his plan again without worrying too much about her. He wasn't in the mood for further complications.

Ulquiorra removed his eye and showed the arrancars present, as well as Aizen, what had occurred during the battle on Earth. Nothing really caught their attention, until the two blondes showed up. That had Aizen and Starrk almost imperceptibly stiffening, Szayel's eyes widening, and Lilinette and Grimmjow sat up slightly straighter. No one really noticed their changes in demeanor though, as they were too absorbed the strange fight that was occurring.

"What the hell kind of ability was that?"

"Where did they come from?"

"Did that girl just summon someone to fight for her?"

"Did he just shoot lightning out of his mouth?"

Questions began filling the room as the arrancars tried to figure out what exactly was happening.

"I think... that for the time being... it would be best to put our plans on hold, until we can find out who this man and this woman are, and what they want, perhaps we can even sway them to our side of the battle," Aizen said. "Now leave me, I have things to think about."

The only people that really noticed how different he was acting were Gin and Ulquiorra, but they decided it's because the entire situation was different. Even Aizen had to admit that what had happened was enough to cause a pause in his plans. However, they also couldn't help but think about how strangely he had been acting for the past several months.

"Starrk, Lilinette, Szayel, and Grimmjow, stay please," Aizen said, although they hadn't even moved yet.

Ulquiorra and Gin left, deciding to not think too hard about it for now, however, they could tell that something was up.

When everyone was gone, Aizen addressed them, "It's a good thing none of you were there today. However, if Lucy asks you anything about the relationship between us and the Soul Society, you are to remain silent."

They all nodded their assent, but Grimmjow was the one that said what they were all thinking, "I guess I'll try."

"Try?" Aizen said, lifting an eyebrow.

"Well, we all know that if she asks and pressures us just the slightest bits, we'll all spill our hearts out to her like her little bitches," Grimmjow said.

Szayel winced at his words, but nodded, before saying, "While that's true, I don't think that Lucy will try to force us to say anything. She might ask or drop hints that she'd like to know, but she certainly won't force us to say anything we don't want to."

"Szayel is correct. I'm pretty sure she's already picked up on the fact that all is not well between us, but she has remained silent thus far, and probably will for the most part, remain silent unless something completely forces her hand, which means, that if you come up against anyone that she is contracted to, you are not to fight them, under any conditions," Aizen ordered.

"Understood," they all said.

Aizen told them to leave, but asked Grimmjow to stay.

"Grimmjow... I'm putting you in charge of Lucy. Starrk is too high up that he can't be disappearing all the time, besides, he doesn't normally go on missions, so his absence would definitely be felt. You go on missions a lot, so you coming and going will not be cause for suspicion. As for Szayel, his strength is not pure combat. If Lucy is ever in danger, you are to go to her immediately and protect her. I don't care who she's fighting, a monster, a mage from her world, a Shinigami, or an Arrancar, you are to protect her," Aizen said.

Grimmjow nodded. He was actually happy with that. First, the abilities in the other world would help him improve and give him something new to fight. Also, he didn't want to be in the position of Starrk or Szayel, who he knew Aizen would tell to stay behind if they ever felt she was in danger. Even Aizen would have to fight his urges to go to her, and Grimmjow didn't like the idea of not being able to go help her.

On the one hand, he didn't like that he had to serve this Lucy girl like she served Aizen, but he did like Lucy a hell of a lot more than he liked Aizen, even though he didn't like the Laxus guy she seemed to constantly be with.

Grimmjow left, knowing Aizen was done speaking with him, leaving Aizen to rework his plans, yet again. Just when he was thinking he wasn't in the mood for any more complications.

~.~.~

The next few days continued much the same for Lucy, minus the nightmares and travelling to other worlds.

She was also able to finally learn something more about the Arrancar. She hadn't asked them about what she had witnessed, and she wasn't even sure if they knew. She did, however, give them, as well as calling out her other Shinigami spirits, a heads up that if they ever needed her help, all they needed to do was call to her through their link and she would come to help, but beyond that, she didn't speak of the incident.

Szayel was the first Arrancar she had contracted, and it turned out he was the best person to talk to about Arrancar abilities anyways. He explained about their Cero, the beam that Starrk had fired on the day she had met them, as well as their hardened skin, called Hierro, which had Lucy wondering how Taurus was able to break through the arrancar's hiero the other day. He also explained that they had their own version of Shunpo, called Sonido.

He then explained that their zanpakuto were different from those of the Shinigami and how they released their zanpakutos through their Resurreccion, which was actually a second form of them that originated from their Hollow form. Lucy found all of it incredibly interesting and drank up the information with enthusiasm.

She learned about the strengths of each of her Arrancar spirits and about their Resurreccion forms, and she was delighted when she found out that Grimmjow was a panther. When he changed for the first time, she couldn't resist running her fingers through his hair and over his ears, which he complained about, but she could swear she heard him purring at her.

Starrk was interesting as well, and his background story made her cry a little as she thought about how lonely he must have been, leading her to run up to him and throw her arms around him, hugging him to her. He returned the hug awkwardly while Lilinette snickered at him.

Before she knew it, it was their last night there, and they would be leaving the next day. Her and Laxus were just wandering through the forest, talking about anything and everything, from the guild to their pasts. She had gotten a lot closer with Laxus over the past two and a half weeks, although she wasn't going to fool herself into thinking that her spirits liked him any better.

Something in the bushes caught her, though. When she went to investigate, she found a black key. She squealed as she examined it and Laxus chuckled at her, looking over her shoulder at the new key. It was black, so that meant it was Shinigami, and the handle to the key was long and thin, like a spear.

Lucy looked at Laxus with a pout and he just laughed and nodded his head, knowing what she was going to ask. She quickly ran to the clearing they had claimed as their training grounds and called on the key.

~.~.~

Ikkaku was in the middle of a fight. It was training time in Squad 11, and they were all fighting each other. He was drenched with sweat and the fighters still left had lost their shirts long ago. Now, though, everyone was watching as Ikkaku once again took on a fight with the Captain, shit eating grins on both their faces.

However, before it could get started, Ikkaku disappeared.

Ikkaku felt like he was falling before he felt right again. He looked around and saw a busty blonde in front of him that he instantly recognized. A fire lit in his eyes when he said, "So I'm the next one you called, huh?"

"Yes, my name is Lucy Heartfilia, what's your name? And are you a Captain or a Lieutenant?" Lucy asked smiling. He was rather strange looking, but all of her newest spirits were unique in their own ways.

"Ikkaku Madarame, and neither, I'm the third seat in the 11th Division," Ikkaku smirked at her. "It's actually surprising I got called, seeing as I'm not a lieutenant or a Captain."

"Hmm... the 11th Division... I think Byakuya said that you guys were all about fighting, so your division must be pretty strong. Besides the keys aren't actually decided by position, as far as I know, it's by power level," Lucy said.

"Ahh... that makes sense," Ikkaku said. He wasn't sure why, but he felt the sudden need to make sure she was safe. His eyes immediately landed on the blonde man who was sitting, quietly watching the two. He didn't seem too interested, but Ikkaku could feel the power coming off of the man, he would be quite a formidable foe. He remembered him from when they had watched the Grand Magic Games, his name was Laxus, and he had some kind of lightning ability. Unfortunatly, they hadn't seen him actually fight much, but what they had seen was impressive.

"Anyways, tell me about yourself, what kind of fighting are you best at, what are your abilities and what does your Shikai look like? Oh! And your Bankai if you have one," Lucy said, taking out her little notebook.

Ikkaku explained his abilities to her, then he said, "Well... I have a Bankai, but it's not perfected yet. I also don't really want the superiors to know about it, because they'll try to ask me to become a captain, but I don't want to, I want to stay in the 11th Division with Captain Zaraki."

"I understand, it stays between us, don't worry," Lucy smiled at him. When he had finished introducing himself, she smiled at him.

"Well, it was a pleasure to meet you and I look forward to working with you in the future," Lucy said.

Ikkaku went back to the 11th division and was met with the curious eyes of many different people, including his own captain, Captain Kuchiki, and Shuhei.

"So, apparently 3rd seats can get called as well," Byakuya said.

"Well, I'd say that Ikkaku is a bit more powerful than most 3rd seats, he could easily be a lieutenant if he wanted to be," Shuhei said.

"Lucy said that it was by power level not by seat number," Ikkaku said, "So, it doesn't matter what position they're in, if they meet the power cut off, they have a key."

"Ah... I see," Byakuya said. "Now, we have some things we need to discuss with you."

When the three of them, Byakuya, Shuhei, and Ikkaku, were in private, they explained to him who all Lucy was contracted to.

"You mean that those feelings that I had, the ones of wanting to protect her and make sure she doesn't get hurt, that Sosuke Aizen has those same feelings towards her," Ikkaku said.

"Yes," was the answer he got from Byakuya. "Also, the fact that you didn't like her companion, Laxus, if he was there when she contracted you, and you won't particularly like any of her companions."

"And the reason you haven't told the Captain Commander is because you know he'll try to use her in some way, and you're not willing to let that happen," Ikkaku said.

Shuhei nodded, "Now that you know, I'm sure you'll feel the same way as us. Maybe we can tell him after she has more of us contracted, maybe another captain or two. We're still not entirely sure of what would happen to us if something happened to her, and if enough of us are contracted to her and we don't have that kind of information, then we'd probably be able to convince him to leave her alone."

"Makes sense, and I'm on board with that," Ikkaku said.

"Also, she didn't really explain it, but she said that if we were ever in danger and needed her help, then to reach through our connection and she'd come to us, I think something happened, but she didn't say why," Shuhei said. "But there's that."

"Got it," Ikkaku said, and then he smirked widely. "This'll be fun, don't ya think?"

Byakuya sighed, was it too much to ask that another composed person like himself became contracted to her next?

~.~.~

The next day, Lucy and Laxus made their way back to the guild, where Lucy was soon tackled by her team and pulled into hugs by Levy, Cana, Mira, and even Gajeel. She then told them what she had learned about her spirits and told them about her newest keys and how excited she was for the future with them.


End file.
